


Seven Nationed Army

by MelodramaticMrTails



Series: Rooster Teeth Republic [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Branding, Drug Use, Emetophobia, Established Relationship, GTA Universe, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Light Masochism, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Panic Attacks, Polyfidelity, Queerplatonic Relationships, Rough Sex, Slurs, Violence, mercenary!ray
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-08 17:45:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 128,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1950381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodramaticMrTails/pseuds/MelodramaticMrTails
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I wasn’t going to leave you,” Ryan insists through ground teeth.</p><p>“No,” Ray agrees. “You just took all the money and said ‘well, there doesn’t have to be two of us’.”</p><p>In the Fake AH Crew, there are dark things in everyone's pasts, however, these things tend not to show up unexpected and try to blow them all to hell. Perhaps Ryan's past isn't entirely in the past after all and now he and his crew have to deal with the person he's wronged most; Ray Narvaez Jr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fight 'Em Off

“Why did you let us catch you?”

“Oh man, that’s good. I’m going to use that on my superiors and maybe they won’t straight up execute me.” The witty response is not appreciated. The young man, far smaller and far younger than anyone else in the room, is consequently struck hard in the stomach with a solid fist. He doubles over as far as the chair he’s tied to will allow him before quickly throwing himself back again, smiling through split lips and bloody teeth. “You can hit me a lot harder than that, Michael Jones.”

Continuing to be unappreciated, he is hit again, much harder this time. He gasps, blinking through the pain before squinting his eyes shut and nodding mildly.

“Better,” he breaths between heaves. Michael steps away enough to give his boss room to face the intruder head on. The older male leans over the chair, hands rested on the arm rests in the typical domination movement. He’s seen it many times before. It’s always so easy to try and assert fear in the form of dominance over the smallest person in the room. Yeah, the guy who looked like he was going to fall into a coma at any moment and smelled of cheap whiskey and beer was going to intimidate the hell out of him.

“Look, kid-” He’d never heard that before. “Either you can tell us what you want or we can get Ryan.”

“What would I want with you, Geoff Ramsey, small time mob boss with accidental connections and unwanted supplies? You think people like me break into places like this for something so- dumb? Maybe I’m here to take the Brit back where he belongs? Gavin Free, right?” he smiles in a friendly fashion.

“What do you want with Gavin?” Michael snaps suddenly. He glances over, watching the angry man flex his fingers again. His knuckles are bruised slightly less than his victim is. Not that, that says much, really.

“That was the joke,” he replies simply. “I don’t care about him, or you. Or Jack Pattillo, boyfriend extraordinaire. I guess you’re all kind of jerking each other off, though, huh? Criminal polyamory; I've definitely seen weirder.”

“Get Ryan,” Geoff says firmly. “And find me a price on this asshole’s head.”

“I wouldn’t suggest getting Lindsay or Steffie to help you,” he speaks up as the pair of them head to leave. “If you want them to stay alive.” And he’s left alone in the dark where he remains, quietly.

Ryan is gathered up easily, though with some complaining. He never likes to be pulled away in the middle of a job but at the same time, he sure as hell would prefer torturing someone over robbing some no named convenience store. Real surprise there. Still, they opt to hold off on doing anything else for the time being. There were two things wrong with this situation and that was a; people didn’t just break into their warehouses and b; people didn’t break in and then immediately get caught.

It wasn’t necessarily that their warehouse was impossible to break into, either. If that was the case, this would be something entirely different. Rather, there was nothing important enough to break in for. There was no information, or goods, or really anything. It was, originally, going to be a safe house but that obviously wasn’t going to be the case anymore. They had thought some sort of animal had triggered the alarm at first.

So to recap, a heavily armed man with a government identification card broke into an empty safe house and triggered the only alarm in the entire building. Suspicion at it’s finest.

Ryan removes his mask as he approaches, the finely painted thing already splattered with blood, and opens his arms pointedly. In the middle really did mean _in the middle_. The situation, admittedly, is a bit concerning and it’s obvious by glance alone.

“Well?” Ryan questions. Geoff nods his head toward the door, gesturing him to do his thing. He had already been informed of the important parts; there was a person and they wouldn't talk. What more did he need?

“Loosen up!” Ryan insists, grinning and patting Geoff's shoulder heavily. He places his mask back on, cracking his shoulders as he walks between them to get to the door. He opens the door, pauses for a moment, and then backs out quicker than his feet can keep up with. He snaps the door closed with urgency, fumbling with the lock as if suddenly unknowing of how to work it. “You need to let him go, Geoff.”

“What?” is the only acceptable response. The sudden change does not go unnoticed. Ryan's cheeriness shuts down like he's been informed his cow died.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Ryan?” Michael snaps back. Ryan backs away from the door nervously and into the hall wall all at once, startling himself a bit.

“Do you know him?” Jack asks, slightly more understanding of the sudden fear. Ryan hesitates for a moment before slowly pulling at the collar of his shirt. He drags it down to show the embossed scar that sits upon his chest, just fractions from his heart. They've all seen it before but never had known its cause. In a business like this, no one asked questions about scars. Even scars that shouldn't be scars and should be cause of death.

“I don’t know what he’s doing here,” Ryan says quickly. “But he needs to leave.”

“He knows our names, Ryan,” Michael is quick to point out. “He knows where we live.”

“He knows a lot more than that and he needs to leave right fucking now. He’s fucking insane. He- he-" Ryan collects himself. "He’s a lot more dangerous than he looks. You're not going to win this fight. And I’m telling you right now, that room is not going to hold him,” he speaks quietly and carefully but quickly. They’ve certainly never seen Ryan like this before.

“Who is he, Ryan?” Gavin murmurs softly. Ryan’s fear is infective and for good reason. The door creaks and begins to fall outward, slowly at first and then heavy with its own weight. It hits the ground with a vibrating thump. Ryan bumps against the wall he’s already backed himself into.

“Ray Narvaez Jr. I would have said so earlier, but you were kind of busy kicking the shit out of me,” he says with a small shrug. Michael is the first to react, the solution appearing simple in his mind. He draws his pistol with ease and the empty clicking sound triggers several times in quick succession. Ray holds up a magazine.

“This must be yours,” he muses. Geoff pulls his own gun upon this realisation with the same results. Ray shifts his thumb, the magazine duplicating in the small movement. “Which makes this one yours.”

“How did you-?” Gavin gestures mildly, more bemused than startled, and Ray glances towards him curiously. Jack moves slowly, as if to remain out of vision in the distraction, but before he can reach his gun, Ryan grips his arm forcibly and holds him still.

“Don’t,” he says stiffly. Ray looks back to them.

“Ryan-” Jack begins, unknowing of what to make of this.

“He’s not wrong,” Ray points out, twirling the finger of his empty hand loosely. A pin of Jack’s grenade dances at his side, soft noises of the metal hitting against itself clear between the six of them. “Why the hell are you wearing those things around?” He tosses both magazines into the room behind him, delicately wrapping the nearly invisible line around his index finger as he walks closer. Jack carefully keeps his arm away from the string.

Ryan backs up again, only hitting the wall that remains far too solid. Ray reaches out with his free hand, removing the mask from Ryan's face carefully and throwing it off to the side. He searches over the colour drained features without a word.

“Ah,” he says suddenly, twisting the string and causing Jack to freeze again. “You wanna reach for your gun again, asshole? Go ahead. Do it.”

“You’ll go with us,” Michael growls.

“That’s the idea,” Ray replies, but his eyes never leave Ryan, pinning the man in place in a way physical binds could never do. “It’s been a while, Ryan.”

“Four years?” Ryan murmurs but his voice gets caught in his throat.

“Six, actually,” Ray corrects. “Every since you left.”

“You shot me,” Ryan replies instantly. It doesn't sound as strong as he wants it to.

“You were leaving before I shot you,” Ray says blandly. Ryan remembers. He'd never forgotten no matter how much he wanted to.

“I wasn’t going to leave you,” Ryan insists through ground teeth. Ray’s finger dances around the string and Jack holds his breath.

“No,” Ray agrees. “You just took all the money and said ‘well, there doesn’t have to be two of us’.”

“I-” Ryan says slowly. “Did do that.”

“Ryan,” Michael sighs from the sidelines. He's not the only, either. Ryan adjusts slightly under Ray’s smaller, more intimidating form, focused entirely on him alone. This is a place he absolutely doesn’t want to be.

“And then pointed your gun at me,” Ray reminds him. He presses a finger to Ryan’s chest, accurately applying pressure to the scar and making the man flinch his eyes shut. “But I guess you’re different now.”

“Yes,” Ryan growls, steadying himself. Ray was right, after all. He had already reaped his consequences. “What do you want? You’re not here to kill me. You would have done that a long time ago.”

“You owe me a favor,” Ray says calmly.

“Do I though? I think we’re pretty even,” Ryan insists.

“I didn't killed you,” is the cutting reply as he presses firmer on the scar. Ryan scowls a little, regaining his courage in familiarity.

“You tried to.”

“I got fired,” Ray says. Ryan’s courage flees the building. This is not what he thought he knew. “You know what that means. It gets better; I got fired for selling Republica secrets.”

“You?” Ryan manages out. “Why the fuck would you do that?”

“I like the challenge,” Ray replies simply. It's sarcasm at it's finest. “Why the fuck do you think?” is the sudden and violent follow up that startles Ryan. That's new. Ray touches Ryan’s face with his fingertips, curving them down to grasp his jawline and everyone makes a small jerk forward before thinking better of it.

“You want us to hide you,” Geoff speaks into their private bubble. Ray glances to him out the corner of his eye for a split moment before focusing on Ryan again. “What’s in it for us?”

“Geoff,” Ryan says, the short statement a warning on his tongue. Geoff doesn't realise what he's getting into.

“You couldn’t hide a rat in a sewer,” Ray comments off handedly. He stays quiet for a moment before pulling his hand away from Ryan all at once. Instead, he faces Geoff. Ryan touches his neck slightly as if to check himself, every movement slow and precise. “I’m going to help you.”

“Help us?” Geoff laughs. “What do you think you’re going to help us with?”

“Uh, I don’t know. Not die?” Ray offers pointedly. The laughing stops. Whether this is intended to be a threat can not yet be known. He faces Ryan again, less than interested in the others. “You didn’t get away, Ryan, and you’re wrong; I didn’t try to kill you. If I had wanted to, I would've. They’ll know you’re still alive any day now and they’ll come for you, too.”

“You covered for me?” Ryan asks, voice gentle. This was the important part he deciphered in that.

“So wait,” Gavin says from out of the blue. “Do you hate Ryan or not?” He breaks all intensity. Ray looks at him for a moment before turning back to Ryan.

“Still hanging out with the best of the best, huh.”

“They’re smarter than they seem,” Ryan claims with a small shrug.

“Yeah, like this motherfucker!”

Gavin chucks his knife suddenly, cutting the string holding them hostage and Michael makes his move. Before he can even begin whatever he’s planned out, likely an unwise tackle, Ray shoots him point blank in the chest. Michael hits the floor all at once, gasping out for air in pained struggles. Jack rushes for him, swiftly throwing any easily detonatable explosively away from his person and far down the hall. Ray looks at Ryan pointedly.

“I said smarter, not geniuses,” Ryan murmurs. Michael curses loudly from the floor, gripping his chest in both hands.

“They're wax bullets, don’t be a bitch,” Ray states over the unnecessary noise.

“I’ll show you a bitch!” Michael yells. He is ignored.

“Look,” Ray says plainly. “Either you can let me help you or I can take us all out right now and save Republica the trouble.” No one says anything. Minds race for alternate solutions and others for the pros and cons of the given solutions. They all end the same. Dead.

“Or,” Ray adds on. “You can leave Ryan and I alone. He deserves it. You can run as far as you can and never look back while Ryan and I sort out whatever we need to sort out. Winner goes back to the service.”

“I can’t go back there,” Ryan says immediately.

“I know,” Ray replies. It’s ominous and it’s meaning clear. Ray wasn’t going to lose.

“We’re not leaving Ryan,” Geoff states firmly. “If you want to ‘help’ us or whatever, then fine, but if you lay a hand on one of my men again, we’re going to have a serious problem.” He steps forward and Ray faces him once more. The agreement isn’t instantaneous, in fact there isn’t one at all.

“I’ll remember that,” Ray assures him. “And be sure to take you out first.”

\- x-

“Ryan,” Michael snaps, shoving Ryan hard in the chest as they breach their room. Ryan stumbles a bit but remains on his feet and mostly unbothered. “Why didn’t you fucking tell us- tell us- whatever the fuck is happening?”

“Hello, my name’s Ryan and I have a long past with the who cares republic and an ex boyfriend who I might have tried to kill for a relatively small sum of cash,” Ryan says all with a sarcastic inflection. He yanks his jacket off, throwing it away from himself as he heads for the kitchen. Geoff grabs his arm.

“No dude, we need to talk about this,” he insists sharply. Ryan pulls his arm free, running his hands through his hair in a stressed movement. “We all have issues in the past, but our issues tend not to show up and nearly blow us all to hell.”

“Talk about what?” Ryan asks. It’s not dismissive, though. It’s a legitimate question and he’s ready to answer. Anything to make this go away. Unfortunately, no amount of answers would make Ray go away.

“What happened between you and, uh, señor cranky pants?” Jack questions, slightly more gentle with his curiosity than the others. He had seen how real Ryan’s fear was and he knows better than anyone else that there are not a lot of things in this world that can strike fear in Ryan like that.

“Uh, Ray was my partner,” Ryan explains, making for the kitchen again. He grabs a beer from the fridge. The less sober he was, the better. “I was the tech guy and he was the ‘keep all the bad guys off of us so we don’t die’ guy. We were-” he pauses, inhaling deeply as he cracks open his can. “Romantically and sexually involved.”

“Ryan the straight guy,” Gavin grumbles. Michael hits him in the stomach with a bit more force than strictly required.

“He was,” Ryan says stopping again only to think of the appropriate words. “Different than me. You all think I’m nuts, but you also know that I’m no worse than the rest of you. I just- play it up, I guess?” He sits himself on the couch, running a hand through his hair again a bit more shakily. No one sits directly next to him, but they all gather around within hearing range. “Ray’s not like that.”

“We got that feeling, yeah,” Geoff scoffs.

“He’s not usually like _that_ , though,” Ryan explains. “He’s small and he’s- he smiles and he gets people to like him. Working with him you start to think that it’s this weird persona he puts on or something but it’s not.” He shakes his head, slowly leaning his face into his palms. “Cruelty is, well, it's embedded in him. He wants to like people, and he wants them to like him, but he knows when that’s not an option. And he knows how to judge his options without bias. I-” He has to stop again.

“Ryan,” Jack ushers him on, reaching out to touch his leg before deciding against it. This was important for far more reason than just Ryan.

“I didn’t know that,” he admits. “I thought that eventually he was going to turn on me too. Remember those documents? From when we met,” Ryan directs the question to Geoff who doesn’t have to think on it particularly long. He nods but doesn’t speak. “I tried to shoot Ray over those. He was quicker than me and I was left to bleed out in some god forsaken shit hole.”

“But you didn’t,” Gavin points out.

“I woke up two weeks later in the hospital. The thing is, though, I hadn’t been in the hospital for two weeks. I’d only been there two days,” Ryan explains. “I don’t know what happened those twelve days.”

“And now he’s here. Great,” Michael finishes unpleasantly. “And he’s pissed.”

“Earlier you said he wasn’t someone we couldn't win a fight against,” Jack reminds him. Ryan nearly laughs.

“You saw what he did. When I said I was the tech guy, I meant I was the break into the Pentagon level tech guy,” Ryan admits. “Not once in the two years we worked together did Ray ever let anyone close to me. We’re talking entire militaries, top agents, criminal masterminds. If he couldn’t stop them, he could slow them down.”

“We’re so fucked. We’re so _fucked_!” Michael is sure to let them know loudly.

“Well wait, he said he wanted to help us,” Gavin is swift to remind.

“Help us into an early grave!”

“Ryan,” Geoff says carefully. “Do you trust him?”

“Fuck no,” Ryan scoffs back. “But if he says he’s going to help us, he’s going to help us. He wants something, I just don’t know what it is.”

“Is it you dead?” Michael questions. “Because that’s something I would like after someone tried to shoot me over some fucking files.”

“It wouldn’t be out of the question,” Ryan mumbles. “I haven’t known him to do something- like that, but-”

“No one’s ever done what you’ve done to him,” Jack finishes when Ryan finds himself unable to articulate his words. Ryan nods weakly. “Not that we have much of a choice. If Ray is telling the truth, then some very powerful people will be coming for Ryan.”

“Without Ray, they will find me and they won’t hesitate to kill all of you if you stand in their way. I didn’t exactly leave them with the greatest taste in their mouth,” Ryan sighs out. “If I leave, though-”

“Shut up,” Geoff deadpans instantly. “So Ray stays, fine. Here’s the deal, at no point is Ryan to be left alone. If Ray’s in the room, two people have to be near by.”

“You understand that it won’t make a difference, right?” Ryan muses carefully. He appreciates the thought, but not if it’s going to get them killed. “If Ray’s going to kill me, nothing is going to stop him.”

“Shut up, Ryan,” Michael echos sharply.

“No more grenades. In fact, no more explosives. That last thing we need is to give him an easier way of killing us all at once. Keep your guns on you and as much extra ammo in as loud of a location as possible. Try not to let him behind you. We sleep in shifts now. Ray’s not allowed in this building, period.”

“This all seems a little excessive,” Ryan comments.

“Gavin don’t- just don’t.”

\- x-

“Can we talk?” Ray says with little inflection. It’s a voice Ryan's not too accompanied with being directed at him. Other people? Many. But never him. Still, Ryan is aware he deserves it and only takes solace in the fact that this is currently all he’s getting. His life could easily become a living hell and he knows it. Ray sits beside him, a little close for comfort. It’s been a long time and still Ryan’s feelings have not wavered. “I want to set some things straight.”

“Whoops, ‘cuse me,” Gavin cuts in immediately. “If I could just-” With some pushing and prodding, he wedges himself between Ryan and Ray and keeps them well separated.

“You serious right now?” Ray insists with some agitation. Gavin wraps an arm around Ryan’s waist, holding him snugly.

“Pretty serious,” Gavin assures him.

“Remember when I said ‘smarter’?” Ryan notes. “Well, I thought I was going to die and didn’t think I would need to provide proof for that statement.”

“Look dude, I was actually trying to have a conversation with Ryan,” Ray says, trying to talk the man into leaving them in private. This, obviously, goes over Gavin’s head one way or another.

“You don’t talk like one of those bloody suit wearing bastards the CIA or whatever has,” Gavin points out. “I thought you all were supposed to talk all posh and dress like someone just died or something.”

“You’re for real right now,” Ray nods slightly. “Okay.” He wraps his arm around Gavin’s neck, bringing him in close for a moment. “I think it’s time for a nap.”

“I don’t think so,” Gavin answers simply, pushing at the wrist by his neck. Ray doesn’t loosen his grip even remotely.

“It’s nap time,” Ray promises, tightening his grip. “Go to sleep.”

“Ray,” Ryan says quietly, a passive attempt at stopping him that goes unheard and unheeded. Gavin squirms a bit, trying to detach himself with little success. Ray stiffens his grip, moving with the lad to prevent too much of a struggle.

“Go the fuck to sleep, Gavin. Close your eyes. Stop talking. Just shh,” he whispers quickly, kneeling to the ground as Gavin goes down. Ray only releases when he’s sure Gavin is unconscious and gently rests him on the hard, concrete floor.

“You didn’t need to do that,” Ryan assures him pointedly, but he doesn’t look at the smaller male and quite frankly, would like to pretend this whole thing isn’t happening. Gavin will be fine, there’s no question about that. This wouldn’t be the first time he had to physically be put to sleep. Maybe it was time he learned that someone putting their arm around your neck didn’t want to be friends. “Like Gavin’s smart enough to repeat anything you say around him.”

“They’re smarter than you’re trying to lead me to believe,” Ray murmurs. Ryan nods somewhat reluctantly. It’s not like they can hide something so obvious from him. “They’re also a lot stronger than they’re trying to make me believe.”

“Yeah,” Ryan agrees again. “You wanted to ‘set something straight’?”

“I’m not going to apologise,” Ray says. Ryan laughs. He expected a lot of things, but an apology certainly wasn’t one of them. “You knew what would happen if you attacked me. I don’t want an apology, either. Whatever happens now is new.”

“Is that all?” Ryan questions gently.

“Yep,” Ray replies.

“Okay. My turn. I don’t know why you’re here, or why you covered for me for this long, and I appreciate it, I really do,” Ryan nods, mainly to himself. He turns to face Ray, acknowledging him physically finally. “But you need to listen to me. I _am_  different. I have four boyfriends who I love very much. Whatever we’ve had in the past is history. I know you’re not here to just ‘help’ us and that’s fine. Do whatever you need to get whatever you want. I owe you that much. But you won’t hurt my crew.”

“Then don’t hide behind them,” Ray murmurs. He returns the favor of not looking Ryan in the face.

“Ray,” Ryan says firmly and they catch eyes for the first time since this conversation started. “If you do anything to cause them harm, I will kill you.”

“Not so different after all, are you?” Ray says and he smiles slightly but he doesn’t make any response to the threat on him. It’s not missed, either.

“I am,” Ryan assures him with a grin of his own. “I got better at what I do.”

“Yeah,” Ray agrees. “Me too.”

\- x -

“Move Ryan,” Ray’s voice is clear. Ryan can hear it in his head bright as day. It comes out of no where. Ray isn’t supposed to be here but Ryan knows better than to think he wouldn’t show up anyways. He had never thought otherwise, but even then he had needed to speak with their ‘target’ privately. Something just felt wrong about this. In doing so, he knows that he has done nothing more than lead her to her own grace.

“Ray, wait.” The effect of this leaves everything to be desired. Ray does not wait. He doesn’t hesitate and he doesn’t show any remorse. The first shot doesn’t resonate with Ryan immediately. He falls before he really understands what’s happening, his knee giving out on him all together. Slowly, he kneels, blood pooling around him.

The second shoot drops the woman behind him dead. Ryan has forgotten anything about the woman and his suspicions about her. He’s not sure he ever knew anything about her now. At this moment, he only cares about his partner. His partner that, apparently, had no qualms with shooting him.

“You shot me,” Ryan murmurs when Ray approaches him. It's all he can really manage between the pain and adrenaline.

“You were in the way,” Ray answers simply, offering a slight shrug. “Dude, you were doubting and she was a notorious runner. If she got away, we wouldn’t have had another chance. It’s not even that bad.”

“What the fuck, Ray?”

“You thought I wouldn’t shoot you?”

Ryan awakes with a bit of a start, phantom pain lancing through his upper thigh. Not a nightmare, unfortunately. That had been a long time ago, though. As he recalls, however, that’s not exactly how it had gone down. Still, the memory is at the front of his mind all too suddenly. Michael snores against his chest quietly and his presence certainly helps keep him grounded.

He’s not sure where Gavin or Jack has gone, but if he were to guess, he would assume they were up with Geoff. Sleeping in shifts continued to be unnecessary, but Ryan had been unable to talk Geoff out of it. Sure, Ray was probably still awake, his habits unusual and pretty unhealthy, but it was incredibly unlikely that he would do anything during the night.

Unless Ray had changed that much in the short six years they had been apart, Ryan is certain that the little mercenary is currently several hours into some video game and at the very least a gram of weed down. He’s not going anywhere.

With Ray showing up out of the blue, Ryan expected some odd dreams. Though at this rate, any dream would be odd for him. It’s not until he's had a dream that he realises he hasn’t dreamed in years. He’d never thought much of it.

Ryan still remembers that night. He remembers a lot of nights that he’d gladly forget if he could. That was the night he realised Ray felt no remorse for shooting him. It wasn’t that entirely that had bothered Ryan, though. In their line of work, it wasn’t unusual to have to make difficult choices and had it been for a better reason, Ryan would have understood. Instead, it was the idea that Ray hadn’t hesitated about it.

Ray, hardly eighteen at the time, hadn’t even flinched. This had been a man Ryan had loved and thought had loved him and to have been through something like that and not even receive an apology for it had not been comforting. That was when Ryan had began to doubt Ray. Thinking back on it, though, he can see all the fine details that he hadn't seen up close.

An apology in the form of tender kisses and soft touches. Trust in the small things; drinking from a glass he hasn’t had his eyes on all night, being high in the company of someone who very much isn’t, faith in unchecked backs. And Ray's love? Not attempting to kill him over their payments.

All things Ryan hadn’t noticed when they were happening to him.

It felt weird to regret it, though, not when it lead to where he is now. It was even weirder to think that this was better than what he had with Ray. He had loved Ray, of course, and admittedly perhaps even still held some feelings for him, but Ray hadn’t made up his whole life the same way Michael, Geoff, Jack, and Gavin don't. Ryan forces himself not to think about it.

Carefully, he shifts from under Michael, making sure he remains asleep, and Ryan pulls the covers up over him as he moves from the bed. He does his best to remain quiet as he dresses again, pulling on day old pants and a shirt that doesn’t fit quite right to be his. Michael remains asleep as he exits the room.

Unsurprisingly, Ryan is correct and Gavin and Jack have settled into the living room with Geoff. Gavin is fast asleep on the couch, his head tucked into Jack’s lap and the rest of him not nearly as neatly tucked into the couch. Geoff and Jack play a game on the television that Ryan doesn’t get the chance to make out.

“What’s wrong, Ryan?” Geoff asks, glancing at him. He looks tired but surprisingly passive and unruffled. They’re all handling this better than Ryan thought they would. To be fair though, seeing Ray had immediately triggered the worst scenario possible; their swift and unquestionable deaths. Barring that, inconceivable torture was also pretty horrid. So, considering neither of those things happened, anything was better.

“Nightmare,” Ryan murmurs with a slight shrug. While it’s not entirely the truth, it’s not exactly a lie, either. It’s a dream he wished he hadn’t had of a situation that distressed him greatly; a bad memory. Jack lets out a soft huff with the potential to be a laugh but it's weighed down with tiredness.

“Us too,” he agrees. Maybe they weren’t handling it as well as he thought. Geoff looks him over once more, slightly more attentive this time. He looks away again.

“Where you heading?” he questions. Ryan considers lying. It would probably be the best choice, all things aside, but ultimately he decides against it. Now would be a pretty bad time to lose any of his boyfriends’ trust.

“I’m going to go talk to Ray,” Ryan explains. Ray not being allowed in the building quickly turned into Ray letting himself in and refusing to be removed. Fairly, no one had really tried to make him leave. There was an air about him that stopped them from doing anything that would potentially end poorly. Perhaps this is entirely due to Ryan’s reaction to Ray or perhaps it is Ray himself. Ryan would be unable to answer such a question.

“Uh,” Geoff replies. “No?”

“Dude,” Jack says plainly, exposing his disappointment in a single breath. A small moment of silence grasps the air while Ryan tries to figure out exactly why he’s going to talk to Ray anyways. He’s certainly going to, regardless of the over protectedness of his lovers, and it’s probably not going to go great. Jack speaks again, vocalizing Ryan's inner altercation. “What could you possibly have to say to him, anyways?”

“Come on,” Ryan argues. “You think I don’t have anything to say to someone I tried to shoot and then who proceeded to make sure I wasn’t murdered outright for six years?”

“Yeah, there’s no way he hide you from republicans so he could assure your slow, painful death himself,” Geoff says sarcastically.

“Republica,” Ryan corrects fleetingly.

“Whatever,” is the curt response. It’s not that Geoff doesn’t have a point, Ryan had already considered it himself, but it seems like a very unlike Ray thing to do. Ray was about getting things over with quick, or if discouraged, not at all. If either of these things had happened then the situation would have been drastically different, but that wasn’t the case. That only drove Ryan crazy, though. Why had Ray covered up for him all this time, then? Furthermore, was that what had gotten him kicked out of Republica?

‘Selling Republica secrets’ sounded an awful lot like ‘did something Republica wasn’t happy about’.

“I’ll be back,” Ryan assures them, dismissing their reluctance for his actions.

“No,” Geoff says sharply as Ryan makes for the door. That’s all there is. No. That’s all Geoff thinks he needs.

“Would it make you feel better if I brought my mic?” Ryan offers.

“A mic isn’t going to stop you from getting shot,” Jack points out.

“He’s not going to shoot me,” Ryan says. There’s no question about it. Whether Ray was here to seek revenge or not, it would not be through shooting him. There had already been far too many times for that to have happened. Besides, that directly conflicted with Geoff’s ‘here to torture you’ theory.

Geoff eyes him for a short few seconds. Whatever he sees, and Ryan can’t imagine it’s much, satisfies him.

“Fine,” Geoff grunts. “Gets yourself killed. I don’t care.” He doesn’t mean it. Ryan knows that. Jack lets out a heavy sigh, but he makes no comment on the final decision. Geoff understands, after all, that Ryan makes very fine and precise choices. He wouldn’t willingly put himself in danger knowing that his lovers were concerned about him.

As he leaves, Ryan picks up his mic from the designated table where everyone empties their pockets when they get home. He fixes it onto the inside of his shirt collar. It’s not well hidden, but it’s not meant to be. Ray cares little of formalities; he’ll say whatever he wants regardless of the situation. Yeah, Ryan remembers the issues with that.

He tries not to think as he makes his way down to one of the lower floors. If he thinks too much he knows he’ll only end up making a choice that is, in fact, dumb. Ryan can pretend that he only makes good choices to fool Geoff, but they all know that is far from the truth. Ray has made himself at home in one of the apartments on the second floor, far below where the crew lives in their sky rise.

Ryan taps on the door lightly with one knuckle. The response is immediate.

“I told your boyfriends, I’m going to be here all night,” Ray calls out. “Don’t you guys ever sleep?”

“It’s Ryan,” Ryan calls back.

“Yeah, I know,” is the plain reply. It’s clear that this doesn’t change his statement. Ryan understands that there is a slim chance that Ray will actually let him in. Even with Ray being as high as a fucking kite, there’s no way Ryan would be able to best him in a fight. It would take a lot more than some weed to bring Ray down to his level. Still, that’s not how Ray sees it.

“Can I come in?” Ryan asks.

A pause.

“Don’t you have a dick to suck or something?” Ray answers. Yeah, that was definitely the Ray he knew.

“Our last ‘talk’ might have been a bit crass,” he admits through the door. “And it’s possible that maybe that was slightly my fault. Or entirely.” He understood that Ray was willing to start over again, whatever that meant to him, but Ryan couldn’t do that. After everything that they had between them, starting over simply wasn’t an option. If he could only keep the good, then he would, but he couldn’t and knowing that, his family came first.

He would like to say he didn’t mean to come off as aggressive as he had, but that isn’t the truth. Ryan needed Ray to understand that his boyfriends were not a weak spot to be pressed upon; it was a suicide button.

That didn’t mean he didn’t want to try again, though. They could be friends. Except they couldn’t and Ryan knew that as much as Ray did. As far as dumb ideas went, giving this a chance was by far the worst of them.

The door opens a crack and nothing more. Carefully, Ryan pushes it open a bit more finding Ray’s back already facing him as he returns to the console set in front of a small television. The apartment is practically bare. Ray seems to have set himself up strictly in the living room, the couch made up for him to sleep and his equipment settled around in a particular pattern. That was different.

Ray sits himself on the floor, back leaned up against a dirty little coffee table that was likely already there when he arrived. Sure enough, the room smells heavily of marijuana and the smoke still lingers in small clouds visible in the dark. Ryan sits beside him, careful to keep out of the wide personal bubbles they each possessed.

“Your boyfriends are fucking dumb,” Ray mumbles. Ryan lets out an amused noise. “Three of them have been down here in the last hour.”

“It’s not them,” Ryan promises. “You make them nervous.”

“I just want to play Call of Duty,” Ray says tiredly. Not everything’s different, obviously. He reaches for a bag, a motion that makes Ryan stiffen a little instinctively, but Ray simply produces another controller. “You still play?”

“Yeah,” Ryan answers, taking the controller and unwinding the cord around it slowly.

“Fucking loser. You have four boyfriends and you still play C.O.D?” Ray laughs.

“Hey, if I’m a loser, so are they because they play, too,” Ryan assures him. He forces himself to relax a bit so Ray can do the same. It works a little on both of them.

“I know,” Ray says. “I’m friends with them on live.” For whatever reason, this doesn’t actually shock Ryan in any way. He had kept the same account he always had because really, what was going to happen? Maybe someone he wronged would get even in a game? No one’s ever bothered him over Xbox so far, anyways. He doubted anyone actually thought of things like that.

“Are you?” Ryan replies simply, fishing very obviously for more information. He sees Ray smile out the corner of his eye.

“FluttershySucks.”

“Ah,” he sighs in all good nature. “I should have known.”

“Kinda,” Ray agrees pointedly.

They play in peace for a while. Ryan prefers his games on a slightly more heavy duty platform, but with four boyfriends and an ex-boyfriend who rarely wanted anything to do with a pc, his skills are very up to par. He knows Ray is probably itching to get his hands on those co-op achievements, anyways. The silence can only go on for so long, though.

“Why’d the RT Republic kick you out, Ray?” Ryan asks quietly. Ray doesn’t reply immediately and his cotton mouth gives him away. It’s a game of slights played under magnifying glasses.

“Selling secrets,” Ray says. “I told you.”

“Come on Ray,” Ryan coaxes, trying to pull the charm that he knows won’t work on Ray. It’s not the charm that gets him, though.

“Are you waiting for me to say that I got kicked out because of you?” comes the scoff of a reply. Ryan lets his silence speak for him. “Sorry to disappoint. I was trying to get information that Republica couldn’t give me.”

“Really?” This strikes Ryan as odd for more reasons that one. Firstly, ‘couldn’t’ and ‘wouldn’t’ were two very different words. The whole reason people couldn’t just leave Republica was because of the vast knowledge inside. People wouldn’t work with them if they thought their sensitive information was going to be exposed and the death clause when joining Republica was in bold lettering. The entire contract was in bold but that was beside the point.

Working with Republica meant unrestricted access to nearly anything and everything so while ‘wouldn’t’ was less unusual, ‘couldn’t’ was nearly unheard of. What could Ray have possibly wanted that the Republica didn’t already have? Which brought on the second; what had Ray gotten into? If it had been for a job, he wouldn’t have had to stoop to trading secrets, and Ryan found it hard to believe that Ray would go to such drastic measures for personal reasons.

“Yeah,” Ray says. He offers up no more information and Ryan finds no room for him to pry. He can’t push it right now; he has no right. “What about you? What did you do with those files?”

“Files?” Ryan murmurs, his thoughts lapsing at the worst of times. Ray answers before he can suck the question back in.

“The ones you shot me for?” he reminds pointedly.

“Right,” Ryan says with an uncontrollable pause. “I didn’t actually get any money for them. I gave them to Geoff.” It wasn’t exactly something he thought he’d have to explain later. Ray turns to him a bit.

“You bought a sob story,” he says. “You bought a one point two million dollar sob story.”

“Yeah,” Ryan replies. As much as he feels like he should have some grand story for the destination of the files he was nearly killed over, that very much wasn’t the case. Geoff had caught wind that he had them and approached him outright to explain that if he sold those documents, it would end badly for everyone involved. By now, Ryan knew that wasn’t quite the case, but at the time, for whatever reason, he had handed it over without taking a penny.

And here he was.

“Wow, I see it was worth it,” Ray laughs a little. It’s not altogether real sounding.

“It was,” Ryan assures him. Ray say nothing more.

 


	2. Couldn't Hold Me Back

Ray’s presence is more than unnerving. Even though he’s done little more than hang around idly, sitting in corners and extra chairs with his DS, just having him around puts everyone on edge.

If he’s doing anything to ‘help’ them, then it’s nothing they can visibly see. As unsettling as it is when he sits around without saying a word to anyone, it’s slightly more so when he’s suddenly too interested in something no one else sees. He'll stare for a second too long for it to be nothing or his eyes will drift with deliberation before returning to what he was doing. Between expecting someone to come after them and worrying about the mercenary they’re not paying, any and all small disturbances make them jumpy.

The only thing worse are the little conversations between Ray and Ryan that never seem to be heard by anyone else. So far, no one’s mentioned anything about Ryan turning his mic off during these talks let alone the talks themselves. It’s clear that Ryan wants them to get to know Ray, give him a chance, but that’s not going to happen. Ray isn't a friend whether Ryan can see that past his guilt clouded vision or not. Michael still has a fracture in his sternum from being shot at close range with a wax bullet.

Thanks to Ryan, Ray has migrated to spending an awful lot of time in their apartment, as well. Something Geoff had insisted wouldn’t be happening. The only reason Michael believes Geoff puts up with this is because he considers their apartment to be home field and gives them an advantage in a fight. Or Geoff’s lost his fucking marbles. Considering Ryan has obviously lost his, this doesn’t seem like a far stretch. Why Geoff hasn't just shot Ray already is beyond Michael.

“Hey Michael, Gavin,” Ray speaking out to any of them gets everyone’s attention. Admittedly, this probably contributes to why he hasn’t done much talking to any of them. It must be off putting to have five people stare at him any time he opens his mouth. That's under the assumption Ray even has real feelings. Michael wouldn't put money on it. “We should take a patrol around the building.”

That sounded like a trap if there ever was one. Still, this was the first thing Ray had suggested that even acknowledged that there might be people after them and it’s taken as a sign that he’s noticed something or someone out of place. If that's the case, Michael would prefer Ray went alone. It's not as if he needs the help. Michael glances at Geoff, looking for further direction. Gavin does the same. Geoff, in reply, looks toward Ryan, but it’s fleeting at best. He wants to trust Ryan's decisions, but it's becoming clear that's not an option. Instead, he gives Michael a nod of confirmation.

Not exactly what Michael wanted. His reluctance aside, he goes along with Ray anyways. Gavin gives him a unsure look. Whether it’s caught or not, Ray does stop before he exits the apartment. He makes a point to unarm himself, leaving his unloaded gun and any ammunition he has on hand at the table beside the door. This neither comforts Michael nor makes him believe Ray is harmless. If it’s meant to be a show of good faith, it’s not taken as such.

Ray makes no mention of what they’re ‘patrolling’ for as they exit the building. Unsurprisingly, Ray doesn't say anything. Their unwillingness to make conversation with Ray isn’t exactly met with inclination from his side, either, to be fair. He could choose any moment to talk to them so they could ignore him but he doesn't. It’s not until they get around the corner that Gavin is finally restless enough to vocalize his curiosity.

“Where are we going?” Gavin questions loudly. For a moment, Ray doesn’t seem to have heard him even remotely, continuing on no differently than before. Before Gavin can ask his question again, louder, Ray waves him off a bit with a small hand motion.

“It’s a patrol,” he says. “You patrol.”

“In other words, we’re going to walk in a fucking circle for how long?” Michael asks sharply. As if he believed they were really patrolling. Ray knew something they didn't and not sharing it with them only made him harder to trust. He knew a lot that they didn't.

There was a reason an unarmed Ray didn’t settle right with Michael and all the proof he needs is given all at once. Without warning and before Michael can even think of stopping him, Ray has his hand on the handle of Michael’s pistol, pulling it from his holster in a preplanned move. If his goal had been to kill either of them, it would have been over. The fact that it isn't, doesn't make Michael or Gavin feel any better.

Instead, Ray turns the barrel on a passing woman. He shoots her three times, only the first being necessary. With a swift movement, he grabs her purse and yanks the stiff handles around her head to drag her off of the street. Gavin squawks. Quick to get off plain sight, they trail after Ray into the dark alley with cautious glances for anyone who could have witnessed it. Ray drops her against one wall and rifles through her purse.

“What was that!” Michael shouts. He knows that Ray has his reasons, but he also won't pass up a chance to butt heads with him. He's not the only one.

“That was an innocent woman!” Gavin insists. Ray stops what he’s doing all together, looking back at the two of them with an arch of his brow before returning to dumping everything out of the leather handbag. Personal goods clutter around the ground at Ray's feet, none looking very suspicious.

“Are you seriously trying to talk to me about ‘innocent’ people?” Ray replies back, crouching down to examine the harmless contents. He hands Michael his gun back by the barrel, not so much as bothering to look at him and Michael snatches it away from him with an aggressive huff. He makes a point to unload the magazine. “Besides, she’s MI6. Was. She was MI6.”

“MI6?” Gavin murmurs. Even to Michael it sounds more of a concerned 'why' than a dumb 'who' question. Not to say it was a poor question. There was no reason for MI6 to be after them, surely.

“Yeah, like you were,” Ray comments. That’s all that’s needed to cause Gavin to freeze up on the spot. He tries to play it off at once, laughing far too stiffly for anyone to believe it’s real. Michael is unsure what to do with this information.

“What are you talking about?” Gavin replies nervously. “I wasn’t in bloody MI6,” he insists. Ray makes a point not to look away from whatever he has tasked himself with finding in the agent’s belongings, completely unbothered by Gavin's reaction. He’s so sure of himself and Michael knows that Ray is the last guy he should believe but he does.

It makes sense, doesn’t it? How Gavin, a fucking idiot by all accounts, could still somehow pilot a plane. Not very well, admittedly, but it wasn’t exactly something you could just ‘wing’. Or how he could handle weapons that should require formal training. Even how he survived things that would have had to have been learned. No one had really ever questioned where Gavin had even come from; Geoff had just always kept him around. Not like he had always kept Jack around, but something similar.

“Yeah,” Ray says. “You like went rogue chasing Michael. Congratulations, I guess? Jacking him off is sort of like catching him.”

“I have no idea what he’s bloody on about,” Gavin assures Michael desperately, leaving Ray out of the statement altogether. It doesn’t sound like a lie, at least it doesn’t sound like his claim of not being MI6 sounded. Ray pockets the woman’s wallet, nonchalantly pretending as if he isn’t bringing down massive walls in slight comments.

“You didn’t know?” he continues. “Michael was designated the D.O.G. for the DeCavalcante family of New Jersey. You know, the guy you totally knew existed and everyone else thought you were nuts? He like started going by Mogar after they told him to pack his shit for, no fucking joke, being too violent. You never made that connection?”

Michael isn’t sure why he thought he would be safe from whatever information Ray had access to. Maybe he really had believed Ray was bluffing. It was different now. If Ray knew he had worked with the family, then why wouldn't he know Gavin was MI6? It seemed even harder to believe Gavin of all people had been with MI6. As a bluff, it sounded plausible, but as reality it was difficult to wrap his head around. It was _Gavin_. Gavin stares at him with a mixture of befuddlement and horror like he's just experienced a glitch that would haunt his nightmares.

“No,” he says in a high pitch. “The Dog was supposed to be in his early thirties and of Irish descent,” Gavin speaks slower as he thinks about it. He doesn’t even make an attempt to hold up his lie any further, confirming everything Ray had said. “And he was- he was originally their incendiary expert.” Michael can see everything falling together behind Gavin’s eyes as he makes connections; as he believes Ray is telling the truth.

“Dude,” Ray speaks again, finally standing and turning away from his task to face the two of them. He holds a earpiece between his fingers, rubbing it clean on a corner of his shirt. Michael and Gavin stand away from each other, locked in a stare that holds no malice, only disbelief. “You’ve been living together for years. How are you just now figuring this out?”

“I- But-” Gavin beings and it immediately falls into incoherent sounds of confusion.

“God you guys are dumb,” Ray scoffs, pressing the earpiece in. He turns away to listen in. Michael has his concerns elsewhere. He’d known nothing about Gavin and any interference that the MI6 had in the family when Michael was with them never reached him. If Gavin wanted to take that up with him, that was fine. He had nothing to do with the family anymore and anything Gavin wanted from him about them, he would happily give. They had abandoned him, after all.

“Geoff-” Michael says. Geoff, however, had not.

“Geoff!” Gavin interrupts loudly. Neither of them wanted this information to travel that far. They would have told him already if they hadn't thought the consequences would be unfavorable.

“We heard everything,” Jack’s voice is low in their ears. Michael closes his eyes hard, fingers curling into firm fists as if to hold back the forming headache. He was wearing a mic, of course they’d heard. They were supposed to hear. Oh, Ray would pay.

“Christ,” Michael breaths. He was already trying to figure out how to explain all this. He’d never planned on having to explain it. He’d never planned on telling anyone. It was his understanding that when Geoff had extended his welcome it came with the perk of never having to speak about things that happened in his past; that 'I was in a mob' was enough. There was no way he was in as deep shit as Gavin was, though. Whether that was a silver lining or not was unclear.

“Get back here,” Geoff speaks. It’s firm and rough and not a voice Michael likes to hear directed at him. “All of you. Now.”

“I can explain, Geoff,” Gavin says immediately.

“Don’t,” is the curt response.

\- x-

The thing about having access to unlimited information is that no one person could ever need or want it all. To some degree, Geoff obviously understood that, and when Ryan refused to knowing anything about Gavin or Michael’s pasts, it was accepted as true. It was true. Ryan hadn’t even known they existed when he had been with Republica; why would he ever come across or retain any information about them?

No, this was obviously information gathered with intent. Ray had come in knowing he would use this information and Ryan is uncertain as to whether it was with malicious intent or not. It would be easy to assume that he was trying to turn them on each other, especially considering Gavin’s apparent ex-obsession with a figure Michael no longer was but that was far from the case. Gavin was much more interested in trying to explain why he hadn’t told Geoff he had been MI6 than he was in doing anything with Michael.

Michael was in a slightly less shitty boat. So he was in a gang before, no big deal. Would it have been nice if he mentioned that he had been a very dangerous and very respected member of a well known mob? Absolutely. Ryan feels that on its own, it probably would have been a bigger deal to Geoff. Taking in a member of a big mob, ex or otherwise, wasn’t always smiled upon. However, in the shadow of Gavin being a foreign government agent, it was extremely insignificant.

Ryan had come from neutral ground and while no, he hadn’t shared his background with Republica at any point before Ray showed up, no one actually knew what Republica was and therefore didn’t care. If they hadn’t heard of it then it obviously couldn’t be that important. That was exactly why they’d never heard of it.

Ray sits in front of their Xbox, back leaned against the glass coffee table, like he’s unaware of the small mayhem he’s caused between them. He’s completely aware and he’s not done. Why would he possibly be done?

“I didn’t know you’d make such a big deal about it,” he speaks into a space of silence between Gavin and Geoff. Gavin and Michael sit on the couch, close enough that they could touch each other if they wanted, but far enough that it wouldn't look like they were teaming together. Ryan stands behind them, observing above all else. Jack takes up a section of the L-couch away from them. Geoff sits on the edge of the grand coffee table, arms crossed and eyes set on a specific point in the hardwood floors.

At this point, Geoff doesn’t want to hear anything from Ray and Ray likely knows it. If Geoff intimidated Ray though, they wouldn’t have nearly as many problems as they did. “It’s not like he’s still active like Jack.”

Jack doesn’t react and it’s a dead giveaway. In a delayed response, he feigns ignorance.

“What the fuck are you on about?” he says with an air of humor at the back of his voice. Had the situation been different, he might have gotten away with it. At any rate, he plays it off better than Gavin had. Gavin wasn't the greatest of liars, but Jack was when he wanted to be. The situation isn’t different, though, and they all know Ray is telling the truth and hasn’t done anything but tell the truth.

“Uhh,” Ray drags on slightly, voice rising a pitch. “Right. Nevermind!” He never had any intention of taking it back.

“One of you is going to tell me what the fuck that means! Whether you do it before or after I get a fucking taser is up to you,” Geoff speaks loudly. His patience was wearing thin, fast. It’s not that he doesn’t get mad, Geoff gets mad all the time at the most ridiculous stuff, but rarely is it this. This is frustration and worry rocking rage.

“Go for it, Jack,” Ray offers. It’s false in every sense of the word.

“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Jack assures Geoff with a shake of the head and a shrug of his shoulders, once again making to leave Ray out of the conversation completely.

“I’m not getting tasered. Jack’s a baby sitter for the FBI," Ray explains. Jack laughs. He shakes his head a little but makes no comment on the accusation. They all, par Ray, stare. Ryan's hand twitches as he instinctively considers reaching for his gun.

"Jack," Geoff says and there's a tone in his voice that is unreadable, whether this is due to the mash of conflicting emotion or a deliberately taken measure is unclear.

"What?" replies Jack. Geoff gives him a pointed look, obviously waiting for him to say something; explain himself. Jack looks a little hurt. "Oh, what? You want me to dignify that with a response?" he scoffs, gesturing to Ray with irritation.

"He hasn't lied about Michael, he hasn't lied about Gavin, and he sure as hell didn't lie about Ryan!" Geoff's voice inclines gradually. The air in the room becomes too tense for comfort and Ryan pulls his gun on Jack. Jack sits up a little stiffer.

"What the fuck, Ryan?" he snaps and quickly looks upon Geoff to do something. Geoff does nothing. Jack becomes uncomfortable quickly. "Right! The mercenary absolutely wouldn't gain your trust to lie!"

"Then prove it," Geoff replies. Things are clicking into place, things that never entirely made sense before, and there's no stopping them now.

"What do you want me to do, Geoff?" Jack demands harshly. His anger at the lack of their trust is practically touchable. Geoff doesn't have an answer for this. Ray, still ever so there, does.

"I can prove it," Ray informs. Of course he can. “I need your phone, Jack.”

“Yeah,” Jack laughs bitterly. “I’m going to give you my phone.” Though his reluctance is laced with humor and distaste for the situation, it doesn’t give the impression of innocence. There’s no winning in this situation. If Ray is lying, Jack will likely never forget it and it will be weeks before he forgives them. If he’s not, Jack’s FBI. Knowing this, it takes Ryan a moment to make himself move.

Jack doesn’t stop him when Ryan moves to stand beside him and reaches into his pocket to retrieve his phone. Ryan also knows that he’s poised to be in the worst position if Ray is lying. Jack already thinks he trusts Ray too much and maybe he’s right. Maybe this was Ray’s intention in the first place, but Ryan sincerely doubts it. That’s likely part of the problem.

Ryan holds the phone out for Ray who pauses his game and sets the controller down in front of him. He takes Jack's phone in one hand and digs his own phone out of one of his back pockets with the other. They wait on baited breath as he works, referencing his phone to enter a number into Jack’s. He leans back on the table, holding Jack’s phone out as the speaker rings.

There’s a pause when the ringing stops, but the sound of someone on the other side is audible. Ray rolls his head back a little to stare at Jack expectantly and Jack stares back, jaw clenched. No one speaks.

“Hello?” is the hesitant reply, a feminine voice from the otherside. Ray doesn’t answer but Jack’s confidence is fading rapidly. “What is your status?” the voice asks. As there continues to be no reply, the voice gets more determined and firm. “Status.” Ray is perfectly content to wait, but he needn’t for long. “We are sending back up-”

“No,” Jack says suddenly, trying to keep the desperation from his tone. Geoff closes his eyes, dropping his head into one of his hands but he seems more disappointed than angry. Jack doesn’t break Ray’s stare. “I’m fine. I thought I heard something. Backup isn’t necessary.”

“Understood,” answers the voice, clearly familiar with Jack. “What is your status report, Agent Pattillo?”

“Unchanged,” he assures. “Narvaez appears to be just some guy. I’ll continue to keep an eye on him.”

“Very well. Stay safe.” Ray hangs up the phone immediately afterward, setting it on the tabletop without a word. He’s made his point very clearly, after all, no more words necessary. Geoff nods aggressively as Ray returns to his game.

“You have no idea what he’s talking about, huh?” Geoff repeats. Jack averts his eyes, swiping them over Michael and Gavin before lowering his head a bit.

“I can explain,” he says lowly.

“No,” Geoff deadpans back.

“Geoff-” Jack tries.

“Ryan, if he talks again, shoot him,” Geoff instructs. Jack glances at Ryan momentarily, teeth ground together in his head, but he say nothing more. Ryan isn’t entirely sure he would be able to do this and is thankful that he doesn’t have to test it.

“Jack,” Gavin murmurs softly. “I thought- I thought-” _You loved us._

Jack opens his mouth to reply but thinks better of it. He’s not sure if Ryan would, either. It’s a realisation that doesn’t make Ryan feel amazing, that’s for sure. Geoff folds his fingers together, tapping them against his mouth idly as he thinks. It’s a few minutes before he does anything more. No one really has anything to say to one another, minds grinding away on the situation at hand.

It was a lot to deal with all at once. None of them had lied, really. Vague answers were simply expanded upon. ‘I was a mercenary.’ I was a freelancer for an agency more influential than the UN, more secretive than the CIA, and more dangerous than you’d believe. ‘I was in a mob.’ I was the scariest thing in New Jersey; even the family didn’t want to handle me. ‘I was a student.’ I was trained by the British intelligence agency to gather intel on the biggest of the bad. ‘I was working for the government.’ I am your biggest threat.

Geoff kneels beside Ray slowly, grabbing the controller from between his hands and launching it against the window. It ricochets off with a loud thump and the edge of one of the handles cracks as it impacts with the wooden floors. Ray isn’t caught off guard, but he does sit for a minute with his hands hovering over his lap. He stretches his fingers out before adjusting himself slightly and facing Geoff head on.

“Are you done?” Geoff asks and it’s probably meant to be rhetorical.

“I guess I am now,” Ray replies. “Kinda rude.”

“Are you sure?” Geoff insists, tilting his head to look at Ray out the top of his eye. “Nothing else you’d like to share? Maybe something about me? I feel a little left out here.” His tone is anything but friendly. Each syllable sharp enough to cut but never piercing Ray.

“No,” Ray says calmly, shaking his head a little. “I think everyone already knows about your military background and fake ex-wife being a cartel boss.” He glances over his shoulder at the four other men and none of them make any move or word to answer him. They only watch him with varying degrees of emotion. “Yeah, see?”

Geoff leans into him close, once again attempting his trick of intimidation way of violating personal space with his size. Once again, of course, Ray is completely unbothered by it. Geoff speaks in a rough, but quiet, voice, “It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than that to break us up.”

“What? Break you up?” Ray repeats, seeming honestly unassuming of the accusation. He laughs a little, opening his body language up significantly more. Geoff is unamused. “Why would I be trying to break you up?” he questions. Everyone could think of a couple good reasons, but none more obvious than the idea that Ray wants Ryan back. This is an idea that apparently goes over Ray’s head. Even then, Geoff doesn’t look even remotely convinced. Ray seems to realise this when he doesn’t receive an acknowledging reply.

“Alrighty then,” Ray says and he touches his mouth a little as he considers what to say next. No one interrupts him. “You understand that the RT Republic isn’t fucking around, right? The bounty on Ryan was posted today starting at two point four.”

“Like, two hundred and forty thousand?” Gavin questions lowly. Ray looks back on him and then to Ryan before returning his eyes to Geoff. Again, his face seems to fall a little when he realises that they’re serious. This is only followed with another smile.

“Try two point four million,” he corrects. Geoff blinks his eyes closed hard. He gives Ray a bit of personal space back.

“What the fuck does that make yours?” Michael asks sharply. It’s no offense to Ryan, but Ray had to be a much bigger target than he was.

“Significantly more,” is Ray’s simple reply. “See what’s gonna happen is Republica is going to offer the bounty to their workers first and no one’s going to take it because they know Ryan and they know me and they know the bounty being offered isn’t worth the fight we’re going to put up.”

From what Ryan recalls of Republica, Ray is most likely right. Every job had it’s price and his price was not two million. He hadn’t been a top agent, but he’d damn sure been on his way, and anyone smart enough to give his record a look would understand that they would be taking a significant loss in a fight with him.

Ryan can not fathom a high enough price to make someone from Republica comes after Ray.

“After that, anyone and everyone with connections is going to know. Government agencies, unsided mercenaries, bounty hunters, you name it. I give it a week before Jack’s FBI buddies’ balls drop,” Ray explains as if it’s a situation that isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds; like he doesn’t have a target painted directly on his face. “I said it before, you’re stronger than you’re trying to make me believe, but I don’t know if that’s right. You’re stronger than _you’re_  making _you_  think.”

Ray breaks his gaze from Geoff, reaching forward to grab the cord of the controller and drag it back to himself. He examines it carefully for any damage before nonchalantly returning to his game like nothing's happened.

“I’m not trying to break you up,” Ray says simply. “I figured it would be better to have everything out in the open before shit hits the fan. I mean, I said Jack was FBI, not that he was loyal to the FBI. You really think you got away with all the shit you've tried to pull without help? He’s been helping cover your asses from the inside for years.”

Geoff glances over to Jack slightly, a question on his tongue that doesn’t leave his mouth. Jack gives him a very obvious ‘see, I could explain’ look in return. Ryan holster his gun carefully, exchanging an apologising look with Jack that receives no response. He’s obviously going to remain a little bitter about this for a while. Which is fair, but also unwarranted. He could have simply come out and said that’s what he was doing, too.

“Michael's a monster that even a violent mob wouldn’t wish upon their enemies. They made that clear when they made him leave. Gavin is a dangerous, reckless idiot with enough training to take down a decent sized rival crew on his own. Ryan spent nearly a decade with the same agency I’m from. ‘Nough said,” Ray talks like he expected to have to spell it out for them from the beginning. He probably had. He turns to face Geoff again, expression suddenly solemn and knowing.

“And then there’s you,” he says. Geoff straightens his neck and shoulders out a little, as if preparing for a fight. There isn’t one. Ray turns back to his game. “All I’m saying is it’s better to get this shit out now and use it than to run around like chickens with your heads cut off when MI6, or FBI, or CIA, or whatever shows up and blindsides you with it.”

“I think Ray’s right,” Ryan agrees after a beat.

“Of course you fucking do,” Michael scoffs. Ryan ignores it.

“This is something we need to settle now.”

\- x-

This is weird.

Ray, for a fleeting moment, considers leaving before deciding nah.

Michael and Gavin sit on the couch, no longer a little less than arms reach apart. In fact, they're not apart at all. Instead, Gavin's nestled into Michael's lap with his legs extended out over the couch, faces close together as they exchange tender kisses and nuzzles. Yeah, pretty fucking weird.

"Okay, what did dog really bloody stand for then, you donut," Gavin huffs against Michael's knowing grin. Ray guesses this is one way to 'settle' things. He gets the feeling he's meant to be here for this.

"It was supposed to be like 'death from the gods' but DFTG didn't quite roll off the tongue so they changed it to 'death of gods'," Michael explains. Gavin snorts a little.

"How is that any better than 'do not engage'?" he insists.  
"Because at least 'death of god' shortens to 'dog'," comes the loud, but well meant and amused response.

"Yeah but-!" Gavin begins to argue but Michael only quiets him with another kiss. Something so unimportant isn't worth the debate.

"What about you? You really went rogue trying to catch me? Sounds like I right ruined your life,” Michael says, purposely butchering the words Gavin does himself.

“Michael no,” Gavin breathes back, resting his forehead against Michael’s. “The MI6 was reet crap. There were always people telling me what to do and what not to do and what to think and what not to think. Well, I was bloody tired of it, wasn’t I?” he huffs. “I’d rather be here any day.” They forgo talking in favor of kissing.

Ryan and Jack stand together just in Ray’s field of vision. Previous altercations aside, Jack is more than content to letting Ryan press against his back side and hold him gently. They fit together well. They all do.

“I’m sorry I pointed a gun at you,” Ryan murmurs into Jack’s neck. Ray feels a pang of longing that he hasn’t felt for a very long time. Of course, he’d been angry at Ryan for a long time, but he’d moved on. Then he’d forgotten Ryan. He had never forgiven Ryan, he didn’t need to be forgiven, but that didn’t mean they weren’t at ease again.

“Yeah, I bet you are,” Jack replies, but he is forgiving all the same. To some extent he must realise that suddenly being told that a guy from an agency who wanted nothing more than to murder them was on the inside, wasn’t exactly comforting. It wasn’t fair to any of them to be thrust blindly into a situation like that, but Ray saw it more of a bandaid to be ripped off quickly. He was right, wasn’t he?

“Did you join the FBI just to cover our tracks?” Ryan questions gently. Ray remembers that; softly spoken words and humor where it shouldn't be.

“I’ve been with the FBI since I was- twenty two?” Jack answers, pondering on the question momentarily. “So no. I’m afraid I wasn’t nearly that romantic.”

“I don’t know,” is the tempting reply. “Becoming a crooked agent to protect your four lovable boyfriends is pretty romantic.”

Ray isn’t aware of Geoff’s location until the man is right on top of him. It doesn’t startle him, and even if it did, he’d never let it show. Geoff can move quick when he wants to, not exactly something Ray thought the drunkard was capable of originally. He learns. Geoff settles beside him on the floor again, this time keeping his own space for the most part. In his fingers, he holds the neck of a beer bottle loosely, threatening to loose it at any moment but not really.

Geoff gestures to Ray slightly, offering him a drink for some mysterious reason.

“Nah,” Ray refuses. “I don’t drink.” Geoff gives him a confused look like he's never heard such a thing before. He doesn’t give it much more thought than that, however, taking a swig from his already mostly empty bottle. “So, you gonna throw the controller again or-?”

“I should thank you,” Geoff says.

“You’re welcome, Geoff,” Ray replies.

“But I’m not gonna,” is the swift follow up, as if he hadn’t heard Ray at all. There’s a pattern forming here, isn’t there?

“Okay, I take it back.”

“I know you’re just trying to make the end justify your means,” he says plainly. He’s not altogether wrong, but he is still wrong. Ray doesn’t correct him. “I don’t care what you’re getting out of this, but let me tell you, if you still have feelings for Ryan; get rid of them.”

This is not where Ray thought this conversation would go. Ray is far too aware that he does still feel something for Ryan, if seeing him again has told him anything, but he's also aware these 'somethings' are likely only due to how they ended; without closure. If anything more happens between them, it'll be up to Ryan. Ray can not, and will not, move.

"I would sooner roll into a shallow grave than see you with Ryan," Geoff promises. It hurts, just a little bit, like touching something he already knew was sharp. "And don't give me that pseudo threat 'I'll remember that' bullshit, either. This is your line, Narvaez, don't cross it."

"So is it like one giant fuck train or what? How does sex even work between the five of you? That's like five penises."

"This avoidance thing is real cute, Narvaez, real cute." Geoff takes another drink.

\- x-

Ray finds it hard to focus on his game. Being watched makes him nervous especially when he isn’t expecting to be watched. It should go without saying that at this point in his life, he should always expect to be watched by someone, but that’s not entirely the case. People don’t just start showing up; there’s an order to things like this.

“Wow,” Ryan says, joining Ray at the little metal table outside of some contemporary cafe. He's wearing his mask again, he frequently does. It’s not enough to get Ray to look away from his Vita. “You’re outside. I concede, you’ve changed much more than I have.” Ray has little to say in the face of Ryan’s unoriginal joke and thus moves the conversation topic on.

“I know your boyfriends don’t like me, but what are they expecting to catch me doing?” Ray questions, nodding his head skyward to a building visible from their outdoor table. Ryan glances in the general direction, though it’s impossible to actually see whether they are there or not. He turns his attention back to the table and the crumpled wrappers that clutter it.

“Maybe not eating dollar double cheese burgers in front of a four star cafe?” Ryan suggests.

“Why would I do that, Ryan?” Ray answers as if horrified by the idea. “The food here is gross.” Ryan amuses him with a chuckle. However, that’s not what he wants to talk about, unfortunately, and he makes that obvious immediately.

“What’s your plan, then?” Ryan question. Ray glances away from his little hand held device slightly, debating whether or not the conversation is worth pausing his game. It’s not. “We’d all feel a little better if you shared sooner rather than later.”

“The plan is try not to die horribly for as long as possible,” Ray explains. This is an answer that doesn’t satisfy Ryan. He mused over it as a waiter offer him a menu that he politely refuses. There’s no reason to keep their conversation quiet. “We’re, me and you at the least, are going to die pretty much no matter what.”

“What’s your best chance?” It could have been phrased better, that was certain. Ray lets out a slightly irritated exhale, finally setting his game down to participate in the conversation fully. He ruffles the back of his head.

“You mean your best chance?” Ray shoots back knowingly.

“That was my next question, yes,” Ryan doesn’t deny.

“Your best bet at surviving this is crawling back to Republica and hoping they’re understanding,” Ray tells him simply. This isn’t a super secret plan at any rate and Ryan should already know this. It’s not exactly a horrible one, either. The RT Republic was fairly understanding. Obviously, Ryan is unsure of whether they were understanding enough to accept him back after a six year absence. “My best bet would be to bring your head back. Since neither of those things are going to happen, here we are.”

“What were you trying to trade Republica secrets for?” Ryan inquires without hesitation. So they were going to talk about this again. Ray knows it was obvious by their first discussion of this that he doesn't have a lot to say on the matter and he knows Ryan knows it. It wouldn’t be out of the question to assume Ryan knows something is up.

“Information?” Ray repeats, shrugging his shoulder sharply as if he finds the question in distaste.

“Uh huh,” Ryan says. “Information on what, Ray?”

“‘S it matter?” Ray asks blandly. The sooner he can put this conversation aside, the better.

“We can help you,” Ryan murmurs, a tone that’s just begging to reach out and touch him. Ray remembers this, too, the charm Ryan tries to pull when he thinks he wants to know something. There’s no difference in his charm when he wants something and his charm when he’s actually trying to be charming. It’s about as annoying as it is endearing and still holds no effect on Ray.

“Who said I didn’t finish?” Ray replies. It’s simple and it’ll keep this conversation at bay for a bit longer which is really all Ray is aiming for at the moment. If Ryan remembers anything about him at all, this won’t be the end. Ray leans over the arm of his spindly chair and into Ryan to share a comment just between them. “RT Republic isn’t as neutral as they seem.”

“Why would I ever dare to think otherwise?”

Curiosity is so easily sated when he hears what he wants to.

Ryan fishes his phone out of his pocket, attention caught by the gentle vibration it gives off. Ray picks his vita up again, more than gladly returning to the midst of his game. Beside him, Ryan moves his chair back a little to pick something up off the floor. It’s in that moment that a hole appears in the middle of Ray’s device, causing the tiny thing to be ripped from his hands with great force. The bullet in question strikes a man in the background square in the leg.

Before anyone can move, another shot fires and the man drops dead. There’s a delay where the citizens around the cafe aren’t fully aware what’s happened and then there’s screaming and organized chaos as they all attempt to flee the area.

Ray examines his fingers, flexing them slowly in the aftermath of having something torn from his grasp so violently. That was a pretty piss poor shot, honestly. Ryan laughs, grasping Ray’s arm in a much too fond motion.

“I’m going to kill Gavin in his sleep,” Ray assures him.

“I sincerely doubt-”

“And then I’m going to kill Michael.”

“I will personally make sure they buy you a new one,” Ryan promises.

“It’s too late for that Ryan. Fool me once.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah thank you for you nice words and kudos, i appreciate them greatly. i hope you're as excited as i am for this thing. as always, i can be found [here](http://themadkingsendshismilk.tumblr.com/) for requests and questions.


	3. They're Gonna Rip It Off

“You ready?” Ray questions. Jack feels like he doesn't really have a choice in the matter had he been unready. They had been through the plan a couple times, none of them really trusting to get it the first time. It wasn’t a particularly difficult plan and it certainly wasn’t the convoluted ones they typical ran with, but it also weighed more heavily with consequence. If this didn’t go down exactly right, at least three of them would be leaving in body bags. If there was anything left to put in a body bag.

“Yeah,” Jack replies. There’s no nervousness to it. As sure as Ray had called it, the FBI found out about the bounty of not one, but two of the people he had supposedly gained the trust of. There were some hard questions about why he hadn’t known Ray wasn’t ‘just some guy’, but Jack had bulled through them and promised to get Ryan and Ray in custody. Obviously, he wasn’t actually going to do that.

“You realise that you’re probably going to be the most wanted man in the FBI after this, right?” Ray reminds him. It gives him the sense that maybe he does have a choice and Jack still chooses to do this. As explained to him, there was a reason to this mayhem. The FBI thinks they were going to be an easy target, and so does everyone else. They have to prove that isn't the case. If done correctly, it will hopefully scare off some of the smaller fish and give them time to prepare for the bigger ones.

Jack only nods.

“You say goodbye to your family?” Ray questions. Fortunately, until they begin, there is no rush. Still, Jack isn’t entirely positive of the question and it shows on his face. That’s probably something Ray should know already, right? “I mean, like you’re actual family, not your weird gay harem family. Like how does that even work, seriously? I’m still thinking about it because, you know, you’re all kind of ‘alpha dogs’ except maybe Gavin? Is Geoff just like the alpha-alpha dog and you all follow him or what?”

“I don’t have a family,” Jack assures him, ignoring everything else about that question. He doesn’t even know what half of that means, truthfully, and doesn’t want to know. Fortunately, Ray is fine with leaving it behind. For now, anyways.

“Even better,” Ray agrees as he reaches for the collar of his shirt. He speaks into the mic clearly. “Are you in the air yet, Gavin?”

“I’m up,” Gavin replies. “Could we hurry? These people are bloody annoying.” His inability to take anything seriously for more than a couple minutes at a time does settle Jack’s nerves a little.

“How we doing, Michael?” Ray moves on.

“There are so many explosives in this bitch, this thing’s going to go to the fucking moon,” Michael assures. Jack would feel more confident if that wasn’t the building he was in right now. It wasn’t like Michael had a twitchy trigger finger. He’d be fine.

“What about you, Ryan?” Ray questions. This was the final check, if everyone was in place, they could start. Jack isn’t sure who exactly the FBI would send front, but if he had to guess, it would absolutely be the man working this ‘case’ with him. He’s not someone Jack knows well, but just knowing he’s another person with a name and a personality makes him a little uneasy. He does not think about the man’s name.

“Geoff and I are in position,” Ryan informs. “Just make sure you don’t land on the roof and we can pick you up.”

“Why’d you have to say that?” Geoff groans. “Don’t land on the fucking roof, idiots.”

“Alright, we’re good to go Jack,” Ray confirms with a confident grin. Jack feels significantly less confident. They were both to leave this alive, but if only one of them was going to make it, it would definitely be Ray. He had far more skill and experience in situations like this. Still, Jack nods in agreement.

“Yeah,” he murmurs, looking down at his phone briefly. Most of the numbers are already dialed in save the last two, just to assure he doesn’t call it before he’s ready. Ray grabs his arm suddenly, fingers clasped around him with force. Jack makes a mild motion to pull free, mostly out of instinct, before meeting Ray’s stare.

“I’m trusting you not to make a kill shot,” he says but it’s in a tone that lacks all aggression and guard. It throws Jack a little and he replies with defense.

“You really think that’s smart?” Jack asks. He is easily one of the last people Ray should be trusting, along with the three others he’s currently leaving his well being to. Jack continues to be unsure of where Ryan’s loyalty stands.

“Says the man about to betray the entire FBI,” Ray responds. “Not part of the FBI. The whole FBI.”

“Thanks, I was feeling great about this before but now,” Jack says sarcastically. Ray released him and offers him what is probably supposed to be a comforting pat on the shoulder. It continues to be difficult to accept anything Ray hands him, though, unknowing of whether Ray actually is trying to settle his nerves or just wants to make sure he can perform his part of the job. Jack supposes there’s not that much difference between those choices, though.

“Ready when you are,” Ray tells him. Jack takes a second to gather his breath before quickly punching in the last two digits and placing the call. Ray’s eyes remain on him without waver and it definitely doesn’t help. As soon as the receiver picks up, everything begins.

“This is Agent Jack Pattillo! I need back up now!” Jack doesn’t think this will work. He thinks that there’s a lot more work involved to get the FBI to send any amount of people into danger, but he’s wrong.

“Understood. What is your situation?” She doesn’t even hesitate. Jack wonders if they had known he was in over his head when they asked him to take in Ryan and Ray. He wouldn’t be surprised at any rate. They were probably waiting for this to happen.

“I’m at the top floor of the north building on Movie Star Way and Marathon Avenue. Haywood and Narvaez-” Ray socks him hard in the stomach, easily removing all of the air from his lung. That hadn’t been in the plan! “Jesus!”

“Agent Pattillo?” the voice speaks quickly, demanding assurance of his life and safety.

“I’m badly injured! Haywood and Narvaez tricked me up here! You can still catch them if you hurry-” Jack is at least ready for the next part. Ray rips the phone from his hand violently and gives it a solid smash against the floor.

“Trying to call your buddies, Jack?” Ray says loudly. It alarms Jack a little, how real it sounds, and he has to remind himself that Ray isn’t actually supposed to hurt him. He does shield himself a little with his arms when Ray fires a shot into the floor before quickly ending the call. Their timer starts. Ray throws the now cracked and severely damaged mobile into a far corner before helping Jack to his feet. The blow to his belly startled him above all else, as it was intended to. All he's saying is that a warning would have been appreciated.

“SWAT’s coming in,” Michael says, his voice quiet in Jack’s ear. He’s watching from the street, safe from the havoc that’s about to ensure. “You got six minutes top.”

“There’s choppers, boys,” Gavin informs from his end. “Would you shut up back there! The police aren't-” his voice cuts off into static as he tears away from his mic. Ray guides Jack towards the stairs despite not actually needing to be lead anywhere. They don’t yet exit to the roof, but Jack leans himself near the door like he’s injured. In the dark, no one would notice any different. It’s not a show that he needs to keep up for very long, anyways. Ray backs up, standing a good distance away. Jack watches him curiously as Ray moves around obsessively, looking mostly at his feet.

“Ready?” Ray asks him, finally facing him somewhat. He checks his pistol, pulling back on the slide with an audible noise. Jack is forced to remind himself again; Ray’s not going to shoot him. He’d be significantly less worried if he didn’t think Ray was completely capable of taking him out with the first shot.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Jack huffs. He’s having second thoughts about this plan now. Quickly, he prepares his own gun, relieved to find his hands as steady as they usually are. In all honesty, it’s really only his own life in danger and that does prevent him from getting the shakes. Sure, Ray’s life was also being threatened by this plan, but Jack couldn’t really care whether he died or not. They’d probably be better off, even.

He could kill Ray right now and it wouldn’t interfere with their plan at all, let alone would it seem suspicious. Not that he could really care to hide it either. The only person he could think of that would be upset with him would be Ryan and Ryan would get over it. Ray was no good for him. He was no good for any of them.

The elevator seems to open a lot slower than it had when they’d come up. Jack was right and a familiar face peers out cautiously from the safety of the lift; Murphy. The sight Jack's partner is met with is an injured looking Jack facing down the barrel of Ray’s gun. Before anyone can move, Jack does.

He shoots Ray low in the chest and his small frame topples like a tower; like this tower’s going to. Murphy and the small team that they could fit into the small elevator quickly swarm into the room. One of them crouches down to check Ray’s pulse and Jack grapples with his false injury.

“Haywood’s that way!” Jack informs, gesturing toward the stairwell that only opens from this side. Murphy directs the team following him to make chase as he makes for Jack’s side. It isn’t until they’re gone and Murphy is directly on top of him that he seems to realise there is no injury. There’s a cross between confusion and realisation but only momentarily. Jack shoots him dead before he can connect the dots. It takes a bit of doing to get Murphy's radio off and he fumbles with it as he makes for Ray’s side.

“This is Agent Pattillo, Murphy is down. I repeat, Murphy is down. Haywood and Narvaez are still in the building!” Jack shouts, making his urgency clear.

“Copy! Do not engage targets, Pattillo!” the feminine voice responds. Jack idly considers if that’s for his own safety or because they’re worth more alive. He tosses the radio away from himself and kicks Murphy’s body out of the way of the door before approaching Ray's side. Jack grabs him by the upper arm and Ray moves with him.

“That was a good shot,” Ray comments. He has to be in a lot of pain right now, but aside from the blood soaking through the thin fabric of his shirt, Jack would have never guessed it. Ray gets to his feet largely on his own and only clings to Jack when Jack insists on it. “Thanks for not killing me.”

“Thank me later,” Jack scoffs back. He helps Ray up the stairs to the roof, admittedly the small lad isn’t very heavy and it’s not particularly difficult to limp him up the single flight. Ray holds his chest as Jack jams the door closed behind them and hurriedly prepares their chutes.

“Drop ‘em, Gavin,” Ray says. There’s a few seconds where Jack helps Ray into his parachute before several chutes open up above them. Gavin’s plane, painted rather horribly to match the ones around him, spirals seemingly out of control before flying off. None of the surrounding choppers move to follow him. By the time they realise he’s a crude imposter, Gavin will have enough distance to make a grand escape. Or an escape, at least.

Jack straps on his own pack, watching carefully as Ray kneels over the edge of the building. Far down below, heavily armed people swarm the building, a perimeter keeps any pedestrians from wandering too closely in. Somewhere in the crowd, a safe distance from the building, Michael’s waiting.

“Come on,” Jack says, grabbing the back of Ray’s bag. “Time to go.” Ray moves a little slower now, the blood loss taking its toll slowly but surely. Jack nearly has to drag him to the right side of the building. He hesitates. There’s no way Ray can make that jump, he’ll hit the side of the building for sure. Before he can do something, anything, to assure that doesn’t happen, Ray leaps. He spirals away from the building effortlessly, falling head first fast but with deliberate pathing. Jack isn’t sure why he worried.

“Blow it, Michael!” Jack instructs. He can heard the explosions below him moments before he takes a running jump from the building top. Unlike Ray, Jack pulls his chute as soon as he’s a safe distance from the building. He loses track of the wounded lad among the other parachuters. That was good, though, that meant no one else would know the difference either.

The force of the blast from the building is enough to throw him off his path a little, but Jack is skillful enough to keep himself close enough to his target without too much trouble. The rest of the people fling away wildly the closer to the ground they get, scattering around the buildings in a desperate attempt to land somewhere safely. Jack does distantly hope most of them make it safely, but doesn’t occupy too much time thinking about it.

He lands a little roughly and disengages his parachute at once. Ray’s parachute, an obvious pattern of pink, yellow, and blue, already clutters the alley behind him and near the exit Geoff and Ryan are waiting for him. Jack dashes for them. Ray clambers onto the back of Ryan’s back with some effort. He looks paler than usual already and has to hold onto his leaking side to prevent from losing anymore blood. As soon as he’s firmly on, Ryan takes off.

Way to stick to the plan, Ryan. There isn’t exactly time to argue about it and Jack quickly hops onto the back of Geoff’s bike. They make a relatively quiet escape. The only ones looking for them are a few sparable cops and with no way of knowing where they had landed, they’re lost easily. Once out of the city, it’s an uneventful ride into the desert.

“What’s everyone’s status?” Geoff is the first to speak to them as a unit.

“I’m heading out to the base now,” Michael is the first to respond. “These FBI assholes are still dealing with the mess. I’ll be out before they close off the city.”

“Landed it like a dream!” Gavin promises. “No cops for miles, guys!”

“Ray’s gonna need some patch work, but nothing we didn’t plan for,” Ryan assures.

“Yeah, what happened to ‘Ryan and Ray take different bikes because blah blah blah reasons I probably had?” Geoff questions pointedly. Jack wasn’t the only one that noticed. He believes the reason was ‘so if one of them got caught, they wouldn’t both get caught’. That was a worry they didn’t need to be concerned about, but the point remained valid.

“Did you want Ray bleeding all over your back?” Ryan replies pointedly. Jack thinks Ryan didn’t fully comprehend how he’d feel about seeing Ray vitally injured when they planned this. Or perhaps he did and planned this from the beginning. Jack wouldn’t put it past him.

“All I'm hearing is ‘I didn’t follow the plan because my gay ex-boyfriend might die’. Boo hoo,” Geoff scoffs back. He easily would have been upset about this situation one way or another.

“I prefer ‘gaylord’, thank you,” Ray comments, assuring everyone he’s still very much alive and conscious.

“Ray and I are going to have to make a pit stop,” Ryan says, obviously having nothing to say to Geoff’s sudden care of following plans. Like they ever fucking followed the plan. “We need to get some pressure on that before we go any further.”

“Not without us, you don’t,” Geoff replies loudly.

“You’re behind us, Geoff,” Ryan reminds him. “We’d literally have to stop to let you catch up anyways.”

“Just slow down or something.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m fine,” Ray speaks up finally. “Jack has way better aim than I thought he would.” That was a backhanded compliment if Jack ever heard one. Then again, he’s sure there was someone better suited for the task. He’s only glad that they actually got away from this.

“I’ll tell ya what,” Geoff says blandly. “If Ray bleeds to death before we get there, I will take full fault for it.”

“Glad to see you’re warming up to me, Geoff,” Ray chuckles. This is not a situation in which he should be chuckling. Jack can’t really blame him for that, supposedly. Still, and furthermore unsurprisingly, he’s pretty glad he didn’t go for the kill.

\- x-

“Question,” Gavin speaks suddenly over the sound of the television. For once, they are all over it. Often after they pull a heist or a job or do anything where people would know their face, Geoff would put a stop to it before they got too big. Usually it’s a small line in a paper or a blurry picture on some blog no one reads. Today, they’re meant to be on the tv. Admittedly, it’s only Ray’s face and Ryan’s mask that makes it, but every word is assuring the population that Fake AH is assisting them.

Michael hadn’t been kidding about loading the place up. Where the tower once stood was now in ruins, hardly a sign that the building had ever stood in the first place, and several buildings around it were in similar fashion. The damage alone caused several power outages and ripped up the street completely around it. Already they are posting 'probably a terrorist attack' over the scene. Obviously no one’s going to tell the public about the high bounty on the criminals they’re advertising. The last thing the government needed was a bunch of civilians chasing after them.

Jack tends to Ray’s wound carefully. As far as gunshot wounds go, this one isn’t particularly bad. The blunt of the blow had been absorbed by his liver which might not have been what Jack intended, but did the job all the same. ‘It’s not like it’s something he uses’ Geoff was glad to add in. Ray is largely unbothered by Jack digging the bullet out of him, most of his attention diverted to the telly. Gavin is more interested in watching Jack work than the television.

Ryan is fully engrossed in his laptop, though he gives no hints to what he’s working on. Not that anyone has asked just yet. Whatever he’s working on, it’s largely unlikely that they’d get a straight answer about it. They’ve learned to let him work in peace by now, anyways, lest they be on the receiving end of his wrathful glare.

The safe house wasn't home, but with all of them there, it was easy to pretend.

“Why did Jack need to shoot Ray?” Gavin asks. It’s a question that actually makes sense in retrospect. Geoff looks away from the tv to squint into space before turning to peer over the back of the couch. Michael joins him.

“That- is a good point,” Geoff agrees. “Don’t they want you two alive?”

“Yep,” Ray replies simply. “I wanted to see if Jack would kill me.” Holy shit, Ryan was right, he was insane. Jack stops completely, taken off guard by the statement. It wasn’t something he had questioned at the time, there were more important things than Ray’s ‘self sacrifice’, but now that he thinks about it, it does seem like a glaring flaw.

“You were testing me?” Jack asks. Ray turns his gaze on Jack curiously, having to think about it. It’s probably hard for him to think straight right now. Even so, Ryan answers before Ray can gather his thoughts properly.

“Not you,” Ryan promises. “He was testing himself.”

“I’m really starting to hate all this fucking spy stuff,” Geoff says loudly. “Come again? In English this time, asshole.” Ryan looks away from his computer, unarching his back and cracking his shoulders with an audible noise. He looks over Geoff and Michael before averting his eyes to Jack and Ray.

“He wanted to know if he was right about Jack,” Ryan explains better. He says it like it’s a perfectly normal thing to do. Jack closes his eyes, rubbing his beard roughly as he keeps his unhappy comments to himself. Now he kind of wishes he had aimed a little higher.

“It sounds manipulative when you say it like that,” Ray murmurs. He snaps a finger pointedly, catching Jack’s attention again. “It would be great if you could finish this, though,” he says and Jack hurriedly moves to continue sewing the wound up. “Besides, this makes us even. I gave away your 'FBI secret' and you shot me in the liver. It's only fair, right?”

“Jesus fucking Christ, you are a crazy person,” Michael states. “Ryan was telling the truth.”

“So what, you knew Jack wouldn’t kill you so you let him shoot you?” Gavin asks, unable to really wrap his head around the reasoning.

“Bingo,” Ryan says, giving Gavin an awarding point of the finger. He returns to his laptop, finding no need to explain this apparently perfectly normal situation any further. It’s not Ray and Jack that makes Gavin go quiet, though.

As he recalls, and he recalls it incredibly well, Ray shot Ryan point blank with extreme deliberation and did not kill him. There was no way that was an accident, either, Gavin can say that with absolute certainty. It’s no wonder Ryan trusts him so completely. The question is can a trust like that be lost over six years and if that shot really was meant to leave Ryan alive. Surely it was impossible for Ray not to kill him had he wanted to.

“Alright, that should be good,” Jack says, finishing dressing Ray’s bullet wound. Ray pats the spot a little and it probably stings like a motherfucker, but he doesn’t seem to notice it at all.

“Cool, thanks Jack. If we’re done then, I’m just gonna-” Like a light switch being flipped, Ray it out cold, slumped back in the probably uncomfortable chair in an even more uncomfortable position. Jack wipes his hands idly on a spare towel.

“He fell asleep,” he murmurs. That’s definitely one of the less surprising things of the day, that’s for certain.

“‘Fell asleep’, ‘passed out’, fine lines,” Ryan comments mildly. Jack turns on his stool to face Ryan questioningly. “It’s been a long day and he took a bullet would without anesthetic. He needs the sleep.”

“Oh shit!” Jack says suddenly, jerking himself back towards Ray all at once. “I didn’t give him any painkillers! He didn’t say anything!”

“What do you bloody mean he didn’t say anything!” Gavin is quick to reply. “You bloody cut him open and stitched him shut!”

“Jesus Christ, dude,” Geoff sighs, sitting back in his seat to watch the television again. His patience for this situation had started at zero and continued to remain at zero. Jack holds a hand before Ray’s nose and mouth carefully and isn’t exactly relieved at what he finds.

“He’s not breathing,” he states suddenly, rushing to reach for his medic bag again. Ryan gets to his feet casually, not as distressed as he should be.

“Whoa, wait,” he stops Jack passively, stalking over and leaning one hand against the back of Ray’s chair. “Let’s not get adrenaline happy,” Ryan murmurs. He wraps a hand around Ray’s throat as if to strangle him awake. There's a pregnant pause. “He’s fine,” he finally says, kneeling down beside the two of them.

“Yeah, just fucking choke him, just do it, he’s fine,” Michael repeats in the background.

“Ray has weak vitals, that’s all,” Ryan explains. He ruffles through the bag for a moment before locate a syringe and removing the plastic grip with his teeth. The needle punctures Ray’s skin carefully, Ryan delicately gripping his arm like he hadn’t just survived being shot in the chest. Ray makes no sign that he’s aware of what’s happening. Ryan recaps the needle and pats the spot neatly with a pair of fingers. “By the way, let’s go ahead and never give Ray adrenaline, yeah? I don’t want to go into detail, but tiny heart plus sudden jump start equals-” Ryan makes a motion with both hands to indicate an explosion.

“Okay, I’m done,” Jack says blandly. “You have this under control. I’m going to go- not be covered in blood.” He gestures to himself.

\- x -

“Hey Ryan,” Gavin murmurs into said man’s chest. It’s a little unusual for them to be in a strange bed, but it’s nothing none of them can’t deal with. Ryan doesn’t tear his eyes away from his reading material, the faint glow that the tablet gives off doing little to disrupt his sleepy lovers.

“Go the fuck to sleep, Gavin,” Michael growls from somewhere over Jack. They’re all tired, including Ryan for once, sleep weighing heavily on his eyes as he scans through various media sources. Gavin is huddled up to his right, pressed against his side warmly, and beyond him is Jack, lying on his belly with one arm around Michael and the other under Gavin’s head. Geoff takes up Ryan’s other side, facing away from him but keeping their legs tangled together all the same.

Gavin isn’t even remotely deterred by Michael.

“How’d you meet Ray?” To this, there is no demand of silence. It’s a question they all want to hear the answer to, obviously. Ryan sets his tablet down face first on his chest as he considers it. First, he considers if they actually want or need to hear it before assuring himself that’s not really his choice.

Then he considers the answer.

“In the Republica,” Ryan replies. He remembers it distinctly. He remembers the lanky body sitting with an expressions of frustration and annoyment in the library that stood nearly entirely for aesthetic purposes. “He had to have been right out of highschool. A lot of agents of Republica were brought in about that age.”

Ryan had known the look Ray wore well; the inability of finding a job worth a damn. He hadn't been there long enough to be trusted with the kind of jobs they gave high ranking members like Ryan. In fact, Ryan had only known the boy’s name because of his PDD happily hosting and displaying the name and rank of anyone and everyone in the area.

“I said ‘good morning, how are you?’” Ray had stood out if only slightly. The colourful and casual attire incredibly different from the much more formal wear that buzzed around. It was a self maintained dressed code that only really proved Ray was new here. Ray had never really picked up on it all the time Ryan had known him. When Ryan spoke, Ray exchanged his frustration for greeting, smiling at him. “And he said ‘morning. I’m good, thanks. How 'bout you?’”

It was a typical exchange passed between co-workers who didn’t really trust one another but never showed hostility unless absolutely required. It’s wasn’t a competitive workspace by any means, and polite greets and exchanges were akin to proving they weren’t animals or sociopaths. Ryan had broken that form as was typical of showing interest in new partners.

“I inquired about his stay there and he had some questions about Republica.” They had been small talk questions, 'is it always this quiet?' 'How's the food?' 'Is the boss nice?', but any conversation was essentially an acceptance of Ryan's olive branch of friendship. Ray had been something else, Ryan knew that from the beginning. He might have been new, but having climbed three ranks already was no easy feat.

“When we finished with introductions, we agreed to share my slot on the training ground, and eventually became partners.” Admittedly, Ryan hadn’t had Ray’s best interest in mind to begin with. Ryan had been notorious for losing partners in the scruff of things and no, he hadn’t killed most of them. Not on purpose, anyways. They had a tendency of being unable to keep up with the jobs he had. He had needed someone who could watch his back in extreme situations. Ray had kept up though and had continued to keep up as Ryan first gradually and then rapidly increased the difficulty.

Ray had not been phased. He learned fast and he adapted faster.

“Sounds like a match made in heaven,” Jack grumbles somewhere between sleep and curiosity.

“We beat the shit out of each other for sixty minutes solid,” Ryan assures him. He remembers what happened during their first training session together significantly less. Michael snorts humorously.

“And when did you know you loved him?” Gavin asks quietly. The question throws Ryan a little. It’s not exactly something he thought Gavin would want to know, or any of them would want to know honestly. Still, no one says anything to suggest otherwise, waiting on baited breaths for the answer.

Ryan doesn’t know the answer.

He thinks about their first kiss off of a job, shared in the soft hum of the cafeteria and the surprised blink Ray had given him. Ray had only grinned that dumb, not overly enthused grin and called him a ‘fucking nerd’. They’d kissed before, for the sake of missions and jobs, after all. There was no cover better than ‘engaged’ and there was nothing more satisfying than enraging the bigoted with ‘this is my fiance’. Except maybe kissing Ray.

He thinks about the first time they shared a bed and the way Ray couldn’t sleep for more than twenty minutes at a time without waking up to make sure Ryan wasn’t up to something. Ryan couldn’t fault him for that, but being able to sleep in his presence at all was something Ryan hadn’t been used to people being able to do. He’d never had a partner that long before Ray. He’d had a life, though, before Republica and he remembers how poorly that had turned out. How he didn’t have the right to be trusted again and never expected anyone to. Not even how little Ray had.

He thinks about the blood on his hands; figurative and literal. He thinks about how Ray was able to stomach touching them, touching him, regardless of the information he discovered and uncovered. How Ray had watched on with an unperturbed face and light hearted comments. ‘You’re a fucking psychopath’ and kissed him until he didn’t feel like one anymore.

He thinks about a lot of things.

“I don’t know,” Ryan speaks eventually. It wasn’t gradually, he doesn’t think, but it wasn’t all at once either. It just sort of happened, like drifting a bike at ninety miles an hour happens.

“When did you know you loved us?” it’s quieter than before and though Gavin’s eyes remain fixed on him, they look almost concerned. Ryan can’t help but grin, though, the very thought of the answer causing a burst of joy in his chest.

“You, Gavin,” Ryan says. “I knew I loved you when I stopped wanting to strangle you every time you dropped a grenade at my feet.” With Gavin, it had been all at once. One day he had just realised that yes, this was an idiot he would like to keep around and keep safe and never let go. Even if being a said idiot made some of those things very hard sometimes. “Though, admittedly, I want to strangle you again now because now I know you know how to properly use them.”

“‘Properly’ is a very broad definition, Ryan,” Gavin assures him. Any worry that had hung on him is gone in an instantly. He needed only be reassured of Ryan’s love. Why he ever needed to be reassured of that is beyond Ryan, but he will gladly do it as often as Gavin needs him to.

“Michael,” Ryan says, considering fondly. “Was gradual. I think what really drove it home was the issue with the jet.” This earns an amused snort from Michael. “You scared the shit out of me, and let me tell you, that’s not an easy thing to do.” He had known long before that, but Michael towering over him, demanding an answer of his significance in the wreck, had twisted him up something horrible.

“I can tell you exactly when I fell in love with Jack,” Ryan assures with a sleep laced laugh. “Diamond heist.”

“What?” Jack huffs back. “You were mad at me for weeks after that.”

“Yeah because, believe it or not Jack, ‘go without me’ does not now, nor will it ever, mean ‘jump out of your plane to come help me’,” Ryan promises. Jack scoffs a bit, but he continues to not have a good argument for himself. Perhaps there had been feelings before that, but Ryan would have to classify them as fleeting and erratic, coming in short bursts and leaving much the same. It was only after the job had feelings stabilized.

“Alright assholes,” Geoff finally says. “Michael’s right; go the fuck to sleep.”

“What about Geoff?” Gavin asks, assuring that Geoff doesn’t get to weasel his way out of this like he’s so obviously trying to do. Ryan’s smile fades a little. He does not know the answer to this, either. That was probably the reason Geoff wanted to be left out.

“I’m not sure,” he admits softly. Ryan considers that is because he had known from the beginning; why for some reason he had given into a very expensive sob story. It was weird for him to think that because stuff like that didn’t happen in real life and didn't happen to him. Though, it could have been less love and more taking whatever he could get. Geoff had offered him more than money could buy and Ryan hadn’t exactly been in a good place at the time. Whatever the reason, Ryan's feelings for Geoff had always been there, one sided or not.

“I’ve never felt more special than I do right now,” Geoff says sarcastically.

“To be fair, for the first couple months I was here, I don't think any of you knew I even existed,” Ryan comments, but it’s laced with humor if not anything else.

“Yeah, the creepy quiet guy who cleaned up bodies and was possibly undercover was totally the man we had our sights on,” Michael promises.

“No, see, the undercover one turned out to be Jack,” Ryan points out. “I was just the creepy, harmless body disposer.”

“Alright,” Jack interrupts with a bearish grumble. “That’s enough. Look, I’m not going to deal with four cranky assholes in the morning, so shut up and go to sleep.”

There are no more arguments, only passive and tired noises of agreement. Sleep comes easy but does not stay as Ryan dreams of things he’d rather forget.

\- x -

Ray sits at the table with them, but he doesn’t make himself appear included. Instead, he just leans back in the old chair, one hand protectively rested against his wound, and stares absently at the table top. He’s probably thinking, but for the moment he is easy enough to ignore. Up till now, Ray hasn’t eaten with them. There was no reason for him to, after all, and it wasn’t like anyone would be putting up with this if they didn’t have to.

Hell, even now Geoff was pretty sorely tempted to make some comment to get him to leave. In the end, it sounds like too much work to really bother. Ryan sits to Ray’s left, still devoting most of his time to his unfortunately small laptop. Everyone knows it’s small and not very powerful because Ryan keeps complaining about it. The two chairs to Ray's right are empty. Michael sits between Ryan and Geoff, glowering at anything in his sight.

They’re not morning people.

Fortunately, the smell of food that hangs in the rather small safe house keeps them all sane for a little bit longer. This is one of the houses they use fairly often, being it’s far away from the compact city and is generally well stocked with planes if they suddenly need to make a quick escape. Most of the food is relatively fresh, at any rate. Gavin helps Jack out to the extent that Jack will allow him.

Nothing is dropped immediately as the two of them stock the table with an excess amount of food. Five grown men can eat a lot, it turns out, especially after intense situations where food was not offered before hand. It only takes Jack and Gavin a couple trips to move it all, though Gavin remains on his feet to disperse drinks after Jack has already settled down.

Nothing is said until everyone has had some food in them. Mostly, everyone. Ray does not make any effort to join them, remaining how he’s been the entire morning, leaned away from the table with his eyes fixed on some distant place in space. He’s apparently too good to eat Jack’s food.

“I’ve done what I could to scrub Jack from the FBI’s system,” Ryan says finally, pushing his laptop aside in order to focus more fully on his plate of food. “There’s only so much I could do with the access code I have, though.”

“Is it that big of a deal?” Jack questions. Due to Jack’s lack of family and friends that weren’t already criminals, the information they had was probably worthless. Geoff could easily get him a new set of identification papers if it came to that though even he couldn’t think of a time when they wouldn’t actually need something like that. Gavin had a fake driver’s license and it was still in the cracks of the couch.

“No,” Ryan admits. “I just don’t like the idea of your information in their database.”

Michael stops the conversation dead. He backs out of his chair all at once, sputtering orange juice like a broken sprinkler. Geoff moves away from him automatically. Gavin is the first to react, though, quickly getting to his feet to peer over the table.

“What the fuck!” Michael shouts, scrubbing his tongue on the back of his hand desperately. His face flushes red slowly and he’s on his feet instinctively. Geoff looks to Ray who finally has taken some interest in them.

“Oh, bloody hell! I must have switched the cups around!” Gavin squawks, picking up the cup Ray hasn’t even so much as looked at and taking a tentative sip. Michael glares at him from across the table.

“What do you mean you switched the cups around, Gavin?” Ryan says firmly. Gavin puts on his best sheepish ‘I’m sorry’ expression. Geoff holds out his beer to Michael which the lad takes more than happily and downs in a few drinks.

“I put hot sauce in Ray’s drink,” Gavin says. No one here really thought Gavin was malicious, or stupid, enough to actually drug anyone’s drink. Ray laughs. Ray laughs to the point where sound doesn’t even come out and he bangs a hand on the table top.

“Holy shit!” he struggles to breathe correctly. “You may be the worse international super spy I have ever met.”

“Hey!” Gavin replies indignantly. Michael stands up straight and Gavin is quick to hop a step away from the table. He’s in trouble and he knows it. No one makes any attempt to help him. Michael is around the table at once, chasing after Gavin without hesitation. “Micoo wait! I'm sorry, boi!”

"Come 'ere, Gavin!"

“Here,” Jack says, pushing some food onto a plate for Ray. “You should eat something.”

“Thanks, man,” Ray replies, shifting himself up a little to properly sit at the table. “I’m starving.” Geoff wonders if Ray was simply politely waiting for someone to offer him food from the beginning. Then he decides, nah, that would have been too normal, Ray was probably waiting to see if anyone would mess with his food. Obviously, he was correct in that notion.

“Micoo no!”

The crashing noises don’t bother anyone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> drum roll for an exciting next chapter. who's gonna get punched in the face next week tune it to find out.


	4. Taking Their Time Behind My Back

The soft noises of leather slapping against itself is starting to grate on Michael’s nerves a little. Ray flickers a wallet between his fingers idly but Michael tries to ignore it for his own sake. It's not like he doesn't want to punch Ray in the face already. Ray sitting intimately close to Ryan is another issue entirely. This he ignores only because reacting to it is exactly what Ray wants. Probably.

For now, all they can do is wait. Ryan assures that they can return to their apartment in about a week after the city comes off of lock down. It sounds like a pretty piss poor idea to go back into the city so soon, but as of now, Ray guarantees that both the local police and the FBI will leave them alone. Not that Ray’s guarantees mean jack squat to anyone. Still, Ryan backs up the magic promise with the logic behind the reasoning that makes them all feel a little better.

The FBI knows now that they are not only capable of demolishing entire buildings, but perfectly fine with doing so as well. This is simply a case better to let go than risk exposing the population to more damage than they’ve already taken. It made sense. As long as they didn’t do anything unwarranted, the FBI would hopefully get the picture that they were pulling the trigger. Common psychological warfare, Ryan assured.

Ray stops flipping the badge in his hands in order to look over the ID nestled inside of it. Jack takes notice of it, the thing finally stilled long enough for him to actually recognized what it is. It’s not the identification card Ray seems interested in, though, at the moment. Instead he glances upward slowly, listening to the plane that goes by overhead. A lot of planes come through here but few of them land unless they were prompted to before hand. It is an airstrip, after all.

“Is that Murphy’s badge?” Jack questions suddenly. He stops to think about when Ray could have possibly been close enough to grab it, let alone do it without Jack seeing it. Ray slides the identification card from its slot and tosses the rest of the wallet away from himself without a care.

“Yep,” he confirms. Michael has seen him do this before, with the woman from MI6, and it only furthers the weirdness for the situation. He’s not the only one that finds it hard to wonder if places like Republica made people like Ryan and Ray creepy as hell or if they were like that before and that was why they were drawn to places like Republica. Regardless, man, people like Ryan and Ray were creepy as hell.

“Are you still collecting those?” Ryan asks with a tug of a smirk as Ray takes a marker from one of his various pockets and scribbles on the back of the card. He flips it between his fingers before shoving it into one of the front pockets of his pants.

“Kill confirm,” Ray answers with a shrug.

“Oh great, he keeps trophies,” Geoff scoffs. “I can see where the romance came from. You’re a psychopath, he’s a psychopath, everyone wins.” He keeps his eyes fixed on the television, though, for the most part largely uninterested in the situation around him. Or rather, largely uninterested in Ray.

“Yeah,” Ray replies. “Beating a man to death with your bare hands is a sign of sanity.” Geoff only snorts passively in reply. Ray glances up again, the same noisy plane floating over head. The more he focuses on it, the more uneasy Michael gets about it. If he’s learned anything from the time he’s spent around Ray so far, it’s that attention is not a good thing.

“What’s the biggest gun you got here?” Ray asks openly. Yeah, that was a question Michael wanted to hear. Nothing bad came of asking stuff like that.

“Minigun,” Michael answers. Ray looks at him pointedly but he's given a shrug in reply. “Like you said, small time connections and unwanted supplies. What’s it fucking matter?”

“I'm not sure what that is,” Jack mutters suddenly, following Ray’s example. He focuses on the sound of the plane that apparently has decided to hover over their safehouse ominously. “But it’s not a cargo plane.” Clearly it’s not something he’s heard before, either. It certainly sounded enough like a cargo plane to fool the others, at any rate, because Michael sure as hell was interested in what kind of plane it was to begin with.

“It is,” Ray assures Jack nonchalantly. “It’s a heavily modified one. Mercenaries, probably.”

“Ex-military?” Ryan muses, though it’s a question not openly directed to anyone. “We should go greet our guests,” he suggests and grins down at Ray. They interact with one another like it’s familiar, like remembering the controls to a game not played in years. It makes Michael nauseous. Ryan helps Ray to his feet with an outstretched arm.

“Was I supposed to take a hint from that?” Michael questions briskly.

“I trust you, Michael,” Ryan assures him with a smile that he only sees momentarily before it's hidden under the blood stained mask. God dammit.

\- x -

This is all very remenisist for Ryan. Situations like this are handled differently with Ray than they would have been had it just been he and the rest of the crew. As much as Ryan enjoys the ‘shoot first, think later’ tactics, there’s a certain air of pleasure he gets from being able to calculate moves again. Wandering into a gunfight without any guns? Sounds like a party.

The cargo plane that lands somewhat hard on the airstrip leaves much to be desired. It’s no wonder Jack couldn’t place what it was considering how botched the frame looks. The engine is probably worse. Quite honestly, Ryan is surprised that it even flies. It’ll be great for scrap, at any rate. The two mercenaries that hop out of it are padded up in thick armor and loaded down with weapons. Ryan counts five others still in the plane, including the pilot. Numbers make little difference, really.

“Good afternoon! Is there a reason you’re on our strip!” Ryan calls over the loud noise of rotating blades. Wisely, the mercenaries remain a fair distance away from them. It’s more paranoia than caution, though. The noise quiets as the rotaries settle.

“Are you really Narvaez?” one of them questions, gesturing to Ray pointedly. This isn’t the first time someone has brought the question up, Ray being comparatively small to most and bust shots don't exactly give away his physique, after all. In the past, it wasn’t unusual for employers to assume Ray was the tech guy because of this and it was often easier to let them think that. Explanations of what they were there to do were generally nothing but technical jargon, anyways. “You’re so tiny, though.”

“Wow,” Ray replies. “Rude.”

“We’re taking you in for the bounty,” the other says plainly, gesturing to the pair of them with her weapon muzzle. As threatening as this would be, it’s taken far less so with the knowledge that they were worth much more alive than they were dead. If there was anything mercs like these could be counted on doing, it was getting their full reward. Ryan is the first to raise his hands in defeat, slowly getting to his knees.

“Well, considering my partner here is severely injured, we don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Ryan says, nodding his head carefully at Ray. Ray flinches as he gets down, playing up his gunshot wound. The pair of mercenaries send one another suspicious glances, though. No one ever thought anything was easy. So maybe it wasn’t really like being unarmed in a gunfight. The slow winding sound is only noticed last minute, far too late to escape the spray that explodes from the hangar.

“Adios bitches!”

Armor doesn’t stand a chance against Michael’s fire and blood paints the ground in wide arches. Two down, five to go. Ryan and Ray split paths; Ryan swiftly taking shelter in the hangar behind Michael while Ray takes cover behind Gavin’s ‘dream’ landed chopper.

The enemy cargo plane takes most of the minigun’s magazine. It’s definitely not going anywhere, now, that's for sure. Returning fire is blind at best, Michael having caught the lot of them off guard and easily keeping them pinned down with the sheer size of his heavy machine.

Ryan takes the gun that Jack hands him, but he doesn’t really have any plan to use it. He doesn’t think he’ll need to. Gavin, on cue, runs past him with a rifle in his hands. He’s careful to remain behind Michael as he winds down to the last of his magazine. The rest of them take cover.

“X-Ray! Catch!” Gavin chucks the gun the full distance. Admittedly, Ryan had been a tad unsure of his ability to do so, but when Ray catches the barrel with ease, the hard part’s over. It’s not like Gavin can screw up everything he touches, after all. Ray peers out of cover only momentarily before violently ripping himself back behind the broken metal shell and glaring at Gavin pointedly.

“Why the fuck would you throw me a gun without any ammunition in it!”

Ryan might have spoke too soon. Gavin makes a quiet 'whoops' but is quick to fumble with the several boxes he's dropped behind a flimsy bit of safety. The one he decides to throw falls apart almost immediately, showering Ray in a harmless hail of metal and stupidity. Ray looks like he’s had better days. Okay, this was not going nearly as smoothly as Ryan had planned for it to go, but smoother than he had actually thought it would. He always had to plan for their inevitable failures.

“I want you to know, I hate you!” Ray calls back. He gathers up a handful of the scattered ammunition, skillfully holding a fan of cartridges between his fingers. There’s a pause where Ray waits, listening to the slow wind down of Michael’s minigun finally hitting its end, and he counts. When Ray pops out of cover again, there are four shots that happen near simultaneously with one another. Then there is silence. Now is absolutely not the time to recall how hot Ray with a sniper rifle is, Ryan is pretty sure.

“Did you get them?” Gavin asks loudly.

“Two fer!” Ray answers, leaning against his cover heavily. He holds his injury again as they cautiously exit the hangar to examine the damage. There’s a quiet, shaky breath that he lets out followed by a nearly inaudible ‘ow’.

“Did I just hear you admit you’re in pain,” Michael points out at once. Not inaudible enough, obviously. Ray looks up at him a bit, accepting the helpful hand offered to get back to his feet without hesitation. He straightens his back up once he’s upright and purposefully ignores the blood soaking through his shirt.

“What? Nah. Wasn’t me,” Ray assures him. “Did you hear Gavin call me X-Ray, though, or-?” Ryan’s definitely not surprised to find Gavin is the first to extend some sort of friendship. Obviously, that may not be the best of ideas in any case and despite Ryan’s trust of Ray, he isn’t too enthused of anyone else trusting him. He and Ray have a past while Ray owes nothing to the rest of them.

“Have I mentioned yet that I am really enjoying keeping around some freak of nature capable of making five headshots with four bullets?” Geoff speaks loudly on purposely, nudging a body with his foot. “Because it’s really fucking great!”

“I love you too, Geoff!” Ray calls back, matching Geoff’s volume. “I’d kiss you, but your pack of gays would probably beat the shit out of me!”

“Damn straight we would,” Michael scoffs. It’s not as aggressive as it could be. If anything, they’re starting to get the idea that Ray is capable of helping them. Whether or not he’s doing it for their well being is largely irrelevant at the moment.

“Oh man, look at this armor! It's top! This is like SWAT grade,” Gavin notes, already attempting to yank a vest off of one of the mercenaries. Like scavengers, they’re already beginning to pick out the useful materials from the mess. Ray makes his way back into the safehouse, though, unsurprisingly uninterested.

Ryan and Jack move the bodies out of sight. The last thing they needed was someone flying over head and getting a sight worthy of calling the very people they were avoiding. Granted, the planes that passed by generally weren’t of the ‘police calling’ nature. Better safe than sorry.

Ray is restitching his lesion when they return to the cool safety of the building. As they return to their seats, he looks to them but returns his focus almost immediately to the task at hand. He’s very clearly waiting for Ryan to say something, but that’s about as much as Ryan knows. Ray, realising Ryan doesn't understand, says it himself.

“Mercenaries are probably the worst of them,” he comments off handedly. “The ones in suits specifically.” Those used to be the people Ryan loved dealing with most, when he didn’t have five kind of dumb people he cared about. Now he dreads the thought. “We should go over what you’re going to have to deal with.”

“That’s a good point,” Ryan agrees. “These aren’t going to be like the LSPD.”

“Did you miss the part where we all had secret bad ass lives before this or what?” Michael reminds him.

“I used to work with mercs all the time!” Gavin assures. “Bloody weird bastards, they were.”

“That’s not really the same,” Ryan says. “These aren’t mercenaries that have been hired by anyone. There's no code of conduct for them to follow.”

“They’re not exactly known for obeying that to begin with,” Jack adds in, crossing his arms defensively. “And we’re apparently in the perfect spot to be used as leverage. Remember when you didn’t see the point in keeping our relationship secret, Geoff?”

“You’re right. This whole time I knew Ryan was a fucking idiot that was going to get us killed indirectly through association. My bad, guys,” Geoff answers sarcastically. Ryan flinches unconsciously and Geoff shows instant regret. Before he can offer up some sort of apology to his unthought comment, Ray moves the conversation forward. Ryan sits a little uneasily.

“Ryan can’t protect all of you,” Ray says, binding off the last of his stitches and cutting the thread free. “I’ll take care of Gavin and Michael.”

“Uh, wait,” Ryan isn’t quick to agree to this, surprisingly enough. In fact, this may be the first time they’ve actually seen him disagree with Ray on anything. It’s a moment to savor. Leaving the lads' well being to anyone, let alone Ray, left a sickly feeling in Ryan's stomach. “That’s not-”

“Dude, it’s not like I’m saying we’re going to pack up and move across country,” Ray says in turn of Ryan’s clear reluctance. “But if anything happens where we have to move fast and suddenly, it’d be better if Michael and Gavin moved with me,” he explains simply. Six people were not about to make an easy escape from anything. Hell, even three was pushing.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Michael assures him plain as day. Ryan gives him a passive look, quietly banning him for saying anything more on the topic. Michael isn't happy, but for now, he understands when he is not needed in a conversation.

“Ryan,” Ray says a little firmer, looking at the man with rancor, like Ryan doesn't have the right to argue with him on this. “You can’t protect all of them and you know it. I’m trying to help you. I understand that you’re bizarre new lifestyle or whatever is important to you and unless you want them to die horribly-”

“Ray-”

“Look, you have proven time and time again, you are completely incapable of protecting yourself, let alone the ones you love. Especially the ones you love. You know this, Ryan.” There is no kindness behind it, no endearing annoyance, only cold realism. Ryan presses his teeth together but he has nothing to say; nothing that Ray wouldn’t shoot down in a heartbeat. Maybe because Ray is right. It would be so much better for everyone involved if he had left as soon as Ray had shown up and he knows it.

“You need to stop talking to Ryan like that,” Geoff speaks out suddenly, gathering Ray’s attention all at once. Ryan considers stopping him before this gets out of hand, but he finds himself a tad afraid of what else Ray would have to say. “Ryan’s an idiot, sure, but he knows what he’s doing.”

“No,” Ray replies bluntly. Having to explain all of this is clearly starting to grate on his nerves. “He doesn’t. Ryan ruins everything he touches. Okay, look, he can’t protect you, but you need to protect him. And funnily enough, running away from the guy you’re trying to protect isn’t usually helpful.” He shoots Gavin a knowing look that is blissfully ignored. “Michael and Gavin are runners and you, Jack and Ryan are not going to be able to keep up with them. Strategically, everyone in your little harem remains alive much longer if-”

“And that’s another thing,” Geoff snaps sharply, interrupting Ray without a care. He hadn't been listening, not really, but he's certainly heard enough. “We’re not a fucking harem. We’re not a ‘pack of gays’. We’re not the ‘finger bang boy’s club’.” He stands and both Michael and Gavin are quick to clear a path for him, pulling limbs out of the danger zone all at once. Ray does not.

“Are we seriously going to keep up this whole top dog thing you have going on?” Ray questions. Geoff grabs him around the throat startling more than just Ray. It has to startle Ray because it sure as hell startles Ryan. He knew Geoff had a lot of issues right now, especially concerning Ray, but Ryan had never thought Geoff would be the first to go aggressive.

“We’re a family,” Geoff says firmly. Ray watches him with unwavering eyes; that dangerous, hollow look that nothing good ever followed.

“Geoff,” Gavin murmurs carefully. Who he's really worried about isn't entirely clear. Geoff looks so much bigger than Ray right now.

“And you’ll refer to us as such.” Geoff hears him, of course he does, but he is unshaken from his goal.

“Geoff,” Jack speaks a little rougher, trying to get Geoff’s attention. He doesn't reach out. He knows better than to get in the middle of Geoff and anything else when Geoff gets like this.

“Do you understand?”

For lack of any better way to phrase it; all hell breaks loose.

Ray moves fast and without uncertainty, wrapping his arm with Geoff’s and breaking the grip on him with a violent jerk. Geoff strikes out with malice, aiming straight for Ray’s face with the opposite fist. It’s deflected with the back of Ray’s hand and returned in the form of a swift kick to Geoff's broad chest. Ryan instinctively moves to get out of the way above all else as Geoff stumbles back into the coffee table and Ray flips himself over the back of the loveseat.

This was going to end horribly regardless of who won. Geoff picks himself up in a fluid movement and shoves the loveseat from out between them with pure power. Ryan backs up automatically, holding an arm out to shield Gavin needlessly. Jack and Michael are on their feet already, cautiously hovering but not intervening. They'd like to, but they all know how dangerous Geoff can be and have no idea what Ray can do. The answer to that, Ryan's afraid, is 'a lot more than Geoff can do'.

Ray keeps space between them and sets his stance to fight. Ryan doesn’t remember this; this is new and it’s scary. Surely Ray wouldn’t actually injure Geoff, wouldn’t kill him, but then again, Ryan doesn’t know, does he. Not anymore. If Geoff is trying to maim him, though, it's a good bet that Ray won't be going easy.

“Whoa, Geoff! Calm down!” Even Michael plays the voice of reason. No amount of reason can stop Geoff from throwing another hit, curled fists aimed with extreme precision and brute force. This isn’t mindless rage and Ray knows it. He doesn’t back down. Ray moves to meet his blow, grabbing a firm grip on Geoff’s out drawn arm and yanking him forward with the momentum already put into play. It throws Geoff off balance and gives Ray the perfect opportunity to strike him hard.

Instead, Geoff gets a hold of Ray’s waist, dragging them both to the ground with grand force. There’s the sound of Ray making a noise Ryan’s never heard from him before and a crack of unrestrained strength meeting unprotected bones and a pained gasp. They’re too close and Geoff’s too big for Ray to win this fight.

“You’re going to hurt him, Geoff!” Jack demands, making to break them apart finally. Ray braces his hands against the floor at either side of his head and wraps his legs around Geoff’s chest, rolling them over using Geoff’s weight as leverage. Braced on Geoff’s chest, Ray puts his hands on the man’s face firmly, gripping his jaw with slim fingers and pushing his thumbs into his windpipe. Geoff swats at him but Ray’s grip is unrelenting.

Jack grabs one of Ray’s shoulders with the intention of yanking him free and Ray shoots him a short look. It’s long enough for Geoff to hit Ray hard in the side of the head and throw the smaller lad off of him. Geoff rolls them over again, holding Ray’s throat in one inked hand and using the other to hit him in the face.

“Geoff!” Jack roars. It does nothing to deter Geoff. It does even less to deter Ray. Ray meets one of his punches suddenly and violently, Geoff’s fist cracking hard against Ray’s and causing him to pull back in pain. Ray takes his chance to brace the arm Geoff’s using to pin him down with one hand and bring his elbow down on the man’s forearm with the other, dislocating Geoff’s elbow with a loud ‘snap’.

“Fuck!” Geoff curses loudly, grabbing his arm in pain and giving Ray the room needed to escape out from under him. Ray rolls onto his feet and stumbles away a bit, leaned over in a way of protecting his broken chest. He straightens himself up when Geoff gets to his feet, though. Ray’s face is smeared with blood, nose broken and eye swollen already.

“Fucking do something, Ryan!” Michael yells.

“What the fuck do you want me to do!” Ryan yells back. He is so not the person to be asking. He has no control over Ray and he sure as hell doesn’t have any control over Geoff. This was absolutely not his fight. Furthermore, Ryan has no idea how either of them would react to him trying to break it up. Not well, realistically. If he's not careful, he'll only add fuel to the fire.

Geoff snaps his arm back into place to the best of his ability, the sound sickening even to himself. Much to everyone’s displeasure, he doesn’t seem to be done yet, either. He makes to tackle Ray to the ground again, only this time he is met with a much more aggressive defense. Unlike Geoff, Ray has had enough of this and doesn't plan on carrying it much further. Ray kicks himself off the wall with one foot and with some great skill, delivers a blow with his heel to Geoff’s back, driving him face first into the wall. With Geoff’s back facing out, Ray slams his foot into his lower back and draws a pained grunt from the man’s lips.

It takes some effort for Geoff to pick himself up onto his knees, his back craned awkwardly. He shouldn't be able to get up from that and he discovers this quickly, the overwhelming pain stopping him from being able to stand. He gets his back against the wall, though, a surprising feat, and sits himself carefully against it. There's no way he can continue to fight now. Ray makes sure of it. He kicks Geoff brutally in the side of the head with a thump that resounds in the room. Like that, Geoff’s out cold. His face hits the ground square on when he topples over.

Ray breathes heavily for a moment, holding his chest in his arm and making sure Geoff isn’t about to get back up, before turning to face Jack sharply. He’s the closest and obviously, Ray is unsure whether or not he’s also going to want to fight. It’s definitely something Jack considers if the way he curls his fists is anything to go by. When he doesn’t move, though, Ray averts his gaze to Michael next. Michael isn’t happy but he’s also not fucking stupid. Ray moves onto Gavin who is completely nonaggressive before finally settling on Ryan.

Ray actually thinks he’s going to fight him. For a moment, a very short, angry moment, Ryan thinks he should. He’d get his ass handed to him, of course, and Geoff had instigated it, but that was his boyfriend; his lover. He doesn’t do this, obviously. Ray is far more injured than Geoff is and Ryan considers it even.

There’s a beat where everyone jerks nervously when Ray finally turns to leave. He makes no further comment and has no issue with turning his back on them as he exits. Geoff is the one that wanted to play this game when Ray was more than happy to put it aside. Ray did not want to play the alpha dog game, Ryan knew that from the beginning, but when backed into a corner Ray does bad things.

Ryan understands, he really does, but Ray is not going to respect Geoff for simply being the boss. Ray doesn't recognize Geoff as anything more than an objective and it's entirely likely that won't change. Attacking him unprovoked definitely didn't change anything.

“Geoff, Geoff,” Jack says quietly, carefully drawing the man into a sitting position. “Come on Geoff, wake up.”

“What a jackass,” Michael huffs bitterly.

“Is he going to be alright?” Gavin asks, looking up at Ryan slightly. Of course he’ll be alright. He’s Ray. Ryan hears the echo of a crack that undoubtedly came from Ray in the back of his mind, though, and he has to wonder.

“Well,” Ryan says slowly. “He’s been shot, nearly bleed to death, operated on in a dirty safe house without anesthetic, sat on, punched in the head, and choked. So, yeah.”

“He’s going to come back and fucking kill us, isn’t he?” Michael speaks but it sounds more like a knowing statement than a question.

“Nah,” Ryan assures. “He would have done that already.”

He could have killed Geoff already.

\- x -

Ray tears up. It’s nothing but reflex as he tries to push his shoulder blades back into place. If Geoff had been any bigger, he wouldn’t have been able to disperse the force away from his rib cage. Sure enough, it’s pretty fucking difficult to relocate his own shoulder blades when they’re both dislocated. He’s reduced to struggling between the wall and the side of the shower for some leverage. There’s no relief when it finally pops back into place, but it definitely feels natural again.

Now to do the other one.

To some degree, Ray knew Geoff would confront him at some point and honestly, if he hadn’t forcibly broken Geoff’s grip on his throat, Geoff probably wouldn’t have fought. This was good, though. Hopefully now Geoff has it out of his system and whatever inferiority complex he had built himself up on.

Ryan had tried to pull that on him once. He had been young and Ryan had been pretty damn not young. The whole reason Ray hadn’t reached out to form a partnership within Republica before was because he was aware a lot of the older members would try to take advantage over him.

In their first fight, right after they had met, Ray had shut down any idea that Ryan might have had about acting dominant over him. So basically, all Ray had to do was fight everyone bigger than him. Sounds like a great plan. People are great. He loves them.

Ray lies on the bathroom floor quietly. He has to remember why he’s doing this in the first place and why he can’t get discouraged and give up now. It’s so awful, though, and he struggles to grasp at the threads of his calmness. Ray has an extreme tolerance for pain, one has to in a line of work like this, but stress does not settle well. Of course, it’s very rare for him to get stressed out to begin with but here he is.

He’s here because he doesn’t want Ryan to die. It’s dumb and, god, Ray knows it’s dumb because he’s so obviously not wanted here. His still dislocated shoulder reminds him of that when he adjusts slightly too much and it laces a sharp pain that he feels down to his core. He still loves Ryan, he’s figured that much out by now, and he doesn’t know why but he does. As much as he wishes he could say he hates that he does, he doesn’t. He wants to love Ryan.

If that means loving his boyfriends as well, then fine. Ray can deal with that.

There’s probably a lot he’d deal with for Ryan and it’s dumb and it’s going to get him killed one day and fuck. Ryan’s not worth it and Ray knows that. Ray knows he could do a hell of a lot better than a not quite sociopath and his idiot boyfriends. He sighs to himself though and presses his palms into his eyes even as his broken shoulder creaks in disagreement.

Not that it even matters, really. Ray doesn’t take pleasure in thinking about what would happen if Geoff discoverers he actually does still have feelings for Ryan. There would be a lot more at risk than just some broken bones, that was certain. He’s not even entirely sure why the man hates him so much. It’s not like he’s really done anything horrible; nothing that didn’t even out at least.

Michael beat the shit out of him and Ray fractured his sternum with a wax bullet; even. Ray spilled Jack’s secrets and Jack shot him in the chest; even. Geoff hit him in the face repeatedly and Ray kicks his pride down his throat; even.

Ryan broke his heart and his trust and Ray shot him in his; even.

The law of equivalent exchange, right?

Right.

\- x -

It’s a rough knock that stirs Ryan from his stress fill sleep. He doesn’t sleep much anymore and the sudden disruption draws an annoyed growl from his throat. The shitty motel room is devoid completely of light; the window covered with as many sheets and blankets as necessary, every tiny, annoying, idiotic LED light taped over and over until not even a glow shone through, and towels crammed under the door haphazardly. He doesn’t know what day it is because he doesn’t want to and the room smells like aging fast food and cigarette smoke and cheap liquor. It gave him a headache but so did everything else.

The knocking only grows rougher and more urgent the longer Ryan lets it go on until he’s finally forced to get up and stumble his way through the dark to answer it. He jerks the door open violently, the handle slamming into the wall without the stopper in place. A heavily tattooed and bearded man looks back on him. Within a moment, pure seconds that Ryan could have counted if he’d been so inclined to, there is a gun pressed against the bottom of his jaw, the heavy silencer weighing the small pistol down.

Ryan doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t care enough to, and it makes the stranger look at him questioningly. He must look the sight, really. With his arm still in a sling and his chest wrapped up tight enough to stop the little fragments of his broken ribs from shifting around too much, he can’t look very threatening. On top of that, he probably looks sick and tired because he definitely fucking feels like it. The stranger hesitates a moment.

“Are you James?” he asks sharply.

“No,” Ryan snorts back indignantly. The man forces him back into his room, flipping the switch to the lights and making Ryan squint against them. Whether he’s dumb or Ryan’s just convincing, the man lowers his gun a little. Ryan shoves him against the wall roughly, pinning the stranger down with his unbroken arm. The force is surprising and the gun is very much still in play, but Ryan doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about a lot of things.

“What the fuck do you want?” he growls. The stranger doesn’t look at him though, lazy blue eyes wandering over the state of the dirty motel room. It’s not appreciated. Ryan slams him against the wall angrily, making the man blink his eyes closed in pain and confusion momentarily.

“Are you James?” he asks again but this time it sounds slightly unsure, like he's questioning the integrity of the first answer he received.

“The fuck wants to know?” is the sour reply. It’s taken as a ‘yes’ and proceeded upon as such.

“You have something I want, buddy,” the man assures him with a pull of a smirk.

“Whoop de fucking doo,” Ryan barks back. “I want to snap your fucking neck. Guess which one of us is going to get what we wish for.”

“The files on Griffon,” he says plainly. “I want them.” Ryan knows what he’s talking about, of course he does. It’s the only god damn thing he has to his name right now. Scratch that, because he doesn’t even have a fucking name right now. He doesn’t know why Republica hasn’t found him yet but his name was a sure fire way to get them to catch wind of him.

“Starting bid is one and half mil,” Ryan guarantees. The stranger laughs shortly and forcibly.

“I’m not giving you a mil and a half,” he promises. “But you are going to give me those files.” It’s Ryan’s turn to laugh, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t find it funny or amusing or charming. Ryan pressed down harder on his neck.

“You must be Geoff,” Ryan says. “Still doing dirty work for her? I’ll be sure she knows how pointless your death was.”

“No,” Geoff replies, pushing the muzzle of his gun against Ryan’s wrist slightly as if it would get him to loosen up a little. “I’m here because if you give your buyers those files, it’s going to ruin her life and probably a lot of other people's. I’m sure as hell not going to let you do that so- just give them to me, James. You don’t exactly have the upper hand here, dude.”

“Good,” Ryan breaths back. “Because my second wish just happens to be a death wish.”

“Uh, okay. Weird. Are you always like this or what?” Geoff questions, unimpressed. “Seriously man, are you smoking crack in here because I can wait until you come down if you need me too.” This guy was an idiot. Ryan’s no longer sure if it’s him that smells like whiskey or Geoff.

“That’s alright, keep on talking,” Ryan threatens lowly.

“Cool, I will,” is the short reply. Ryan’s patience is running thin. “Look buddy, I didn’t really come here to fight you. They said you were a big motherfucker and they weren’t kidding. I just want those files. Come on. This woman’s important to me. A big, burly dickhead like you has to have someone he cares about, right?”

Ryan cracks a little. He’s a bit ashamed of that, too, but he’s not- not whatever the hell he was before. There’s no charade he has to keep up for anyone and there’s no one to fool into thinking he’s a psychopath anymore. He’s utterly alone, in fact, and it’s his fault. Just like always. His grip on Geoff tightens only to loosen almost completely.

“See?” Geoff says, patting Ryan’s shoulder a bit with his empty hand. Ryan gives him a cold stare. “Griffon is one of those people for me, James, and I would do anything to stop assholes like you from trying to fuck her over. Get it?” It’s an idle threat is what it is or at least what it should be. Ryan can’t tell the difference anymore.

Slowly, he lets Geoff go. It’s not like he fucking cares, anyways. These files have been nothing but trouble for him from the start and it wasn’t like he was going to be able to do a whole lot with the money they offered him anyways. There is a grave with his name on it somewhere and the only god damn man he loves had dug it for him.

Ryan throws the folder into Geoff’s chest hard.

“Get out.”

“What? Already?” Geoff answers. Distantly, Ryan is aware something is wrong. It hits him like a ton of bricks when Geoff walks towards him, a slinky movement to his step. He pushes a hand against Ryan’s chest causing the man to take an awkward step back and bump into the edge of the bed. Which is weird, because Ryan’s fairly certain the bed was turned the other direction.

“I’ll help you forget about him,” Geoff whispers. Okay, so this was absolutely not how this went. Ryan feels Geoff’s furry face patch against his neck only momentarily before jolting awake. These ‘dreams’ were starting to get a little out of hand. It takes Ryan a moment to make sense of where he is and what is happening, still not entirely use to waking up somewhere besides their sky rise apartment.

Geoff’s there, of course, his bruised face pressed into Ryan’s warm neck. From this angle, he can see the bruises on Geoff's throat from where Ray had tried to subdue him. Geoff is not disrupted by Ryan’s unpleasant dreaming, fortunately, and continues to sleep on quietly. Jack lies a bit further away with a lad tangled in either arm like he’s holding them hostage. Gavin and Michael are perfectly content with this, snoring softly under Jack’s louder grumbles. Ryan has never been a heavy sleeper but with the recent abundance of dreams, it’s getting worse. He is only thankful his insomnia hasn’t made a return as of yet.

Carefully, Ryan shifts Geoff’s arm from across his chest. Unlike him, Geoff is a notoriously heavy sleeper and doesn’t even budge when Ryan leaves the bed. The alcohol probably helps and Ryan considers it as a possible solution to his sleeping problem. He leaves the room silently, the cool night air a bit uncomfortable in contrast to the warm bed he’s coming from.

Ryan finds Ray where he usually finds him at this time a night; propped on the edge of the couch in front of the television with some game playing on low volume in the background. Ray used to be obsessed with video games before, but at least he used to sleep, too. Ryan isn’t sure he’s slept in days now. From where Ryan stands, Ray looks pretty bad, too. His back is nearly entirely bruised, the worst of it being at the sharps of his shoulders. He has some scars that Ryan doesn’t remember him having before, but they’re too old and blended into his skin to have been from Geoff.

“Sup,” Ray murmurs when Ryan approaches his side. The safe house isn’t exactly made for privacy, or company, which is likely a contributing factor to why Ray isn’t sleeping. After the fight with Geoff, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Ray to be more on guard than usual. Ryan sits beside him on the much too plush couch, immediately tilting it in his favor against Ray’s near weightlessness.

“You should have let Jack look at you,” he replies. Ray wouldn’t let Jack anywhere near him and rightfully so.

“I’m fine,” Ray answers simply.

“Of course. Bones are supposed to make fracturing noises when compressed,” Ryan agrees. Ray rolls his eyes as he sit up a little more to roll his shoulders. He gestures to his ribs in a way that tells Ryan to check for himself. He shouldn’t be touching Ray. In fact, he shouldn’t be out here at all. He should be in bed with Geoff cuddled against him, sleeping away the stressful day. Ryan can’t keep doing this.

Even with that in mind, Ryan reaches out carefully to place his hand low on Ray’s chest. His hands fits neatly around the edge of Ray’s ribcage just like they always have. Ryan ignores the urge to yank away. It’s not like he’s feeling Ray up or something, he’s just making sure his ribs aren’t fucking broken. They’re not and they continue to not be broken the entire time Ryan feels along Ray’s chest.

“See?” Ray says pointedly, shrugging his shoulders. “I’m fine.” Ryan gives him a firm pat on the back, making sure to put most of the pressure on those dark bruises that sit on his shoulder blades like tiny wings. Ray makes a small, pained noise.

“I guess you’re right,” Ryan replies. “You’re fine.”

“Why you gotta be an asshole, Ryan?” Ray groans, putting his controller down so he can readjust his injured shoulders. They make a cracking noise that seems to ease some of Ray’s pain. Like in the past, it appears that the longer Ray goes without properly treating his wounds, the worse he’s going to feel them. Ryan would like to offer to tend to them for him but he realises that isn’t his place.

“So,” Ryan says instead, resting his hands on his thighs absently as Ray goes back to playing video games. “Thank you. You know, for not snapping Geoff’s back like a fucking twig.”

“Would have kind of defeated the point of keeping him safe,” Ray points out. He can say that but Ryan knows how easy it would have been to give up on that idea immediately. Of course, Ray probably also knows this wouldn’t have worked out in his favor. Ryan may be a bit out of his old lifestyle but that didn’t mean he couldn’t give Ray a run for his money if the situation dierly called for it.

“And I’m sorry,” Ryan continues. “I should have done something.” Preferably before the fighting even began. Thinking back on it, Ryan is aware that Geoff was probably reacting to how he had reacted to Ray. Ryan had, admittedly, not taken well to what Ray had said. Had he kept his cool, things probably wouldn’t have escalated so quickly. “But you’re right, I’m pretty bad at keeping the things I like safe.”

Ray cuts him a look out the corner of his eye. He had likely been including himself when he said Ryan was really bad at protecting the ones he loved. That’s not wrong, obviously. Ryan isn’t blind to the fact he had single handedly ruined his and Ray’s relationship. Ryan had seen things that weren’t there and probably blindsided Ray if nothing else. Ryan has to wonder if Ray even understands what had happened, why he had done what he had. Ray had said it himself, after all, he hadn’t forgiven Ryan, he only wanted to forget it.

Ryan would have to explain himself one day and make sure Ray knew that it really hadn’t been his fault.

“But,” Ryan continues and Ray silently sighs like he expected this. “It’s up to them if they want to take your advice or not. It’s really not my place to say.” He anticipates Ray’s argument about how his plan was the ‘stay alive as long as possible plan’ but it never comes.

“How many of these little heartfelt conversations are we going to have behind your boyfriends’ backs?” he asks blandly. “For real though, pretty sure coming to talk secretly with me in the dead of night is sort of not helping them like me?” It wasn’t that easy. If it was, Ryan would have been doing that a long time ago.

“Well, believe it or not, it’s a lot easier to talk to you,” Ryan assures him. He back tracks a little. “Not like that,” is the immediate correction. “I mean, it’s a lot easier to talk to you alone. There’s some stuff between us that I don’t want to have to explain to them just yet.” If they asked, then fine, Ryan would answer to the best of his ability, but there was stuff that he wasn’t ready to talk about and would greatly like to put a hold on having to talk about until basically the last minute.

Things like why he thought, or rather knew, he was incapable of defending them.

“Whatever man,” Ray murmurs back, disinterested in Ryan’s excuses.

“There’s stuff they don’t know about me yet,” Ryan insists. Fairly, there was a lot of stuff about them he didn’t know, either. The dark corners of the things they had done were there for a reason and to shine light on them unwittingly could only end poorly. Honestly, Ray wasn’t helping that, either. “Besides, they think everything you’re doing is just to try and lure me back to Republica.”

“That’s because I am,” Ray answers simply. “Long live Roosterteeth.”

“Cute,” Ryan says. “I’m going to go back to bed.” He gets to his feet slowly and Ray watches him idly as he moves. “Let Jack look at you in the morning. Please.”

“Yeah. Night Ryan.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there it is. Isaac_Kran guessed right. geoff and ray kick each other's teeth out. you win a suspicious stare from the author[ur great, thanks for reading]. stay tuned for more FBI.


	5. I'm Talking to Myself at Night

Despite the fact that going back home so soon after having the entire FBI searching for them was easily the worst idea imaginable, Geoff is happy to be leaving the safe house. It’s small and cramped and honestly, he was getting a little stir crazy. Not to mention Ray was still there. Always there. Just sitting around. Being there. It was bad enough that Ryan was willing associating with him but now Gavin was attempting to make friends with him as well.

Several days of having to watch Gavin hurt himself trying to learn how to parkour from Ray is several days too many. Geoff isn't sure why Gavin thinks they can be friends, despite Ray's personality doing a one eighty in response to Gavin's friendliness, but it can't end well. He knows what Ryan said, that Ray wants to like people and he wants them to like him, but a friendship with Ray was superfluous. Whether they were friends, or more, nothing would stop Ray from getting what he wanted.

If that meant hurting his friends, he would do so without hesitation and without exhausting options.

Gavin doesn't need a friend like that and neither does Fake AH. For now, Geoff lets his disapproval work silently. Gavin's idiocy could potentially open up a weak spot in Ray's otherwise impervious armor if the need arises for it. Geoff's pretty sure it will and soon, if not already.

They get into the city without any problems, one of the many spare minivans in their arsenal aiding their cause. It would probably work to their advantage to get some decent rides that don't have a crew emblem seen from fucking space. Not only did they not want their name on this, drawing more attention to themselves was just asking to be taken hostage.

Michael parks the soccer mom mobile about a block from their apartment building for their behind the scenes crew to take care of at a later time. No more casual explosions, either. Or fires. Or random heavy weapon fire. 'In fact, just don't do anything.'

That's going to be easy.

Upon approaching the door to their building, they are met with a group of people not their friends. Before Geoff can quickly instruct a getaway plan into action, they're surrounded by dozens of SWAT agents, leaving no room to slip through and even less room to fight. Geoff can feel his crew's backs against his as they automatically form a compressed circle to protect one another's blindsides.

"Geoff," Jack whispers, urging some kind of instruction. There's not a lot they can do, unfortunately. Geoff isn't surprised, but he sure as hell isn't prepared, either.

"We have you surrounded! Obey and we will not shoot!" Not shooting would be great. They're unarmed because of course they are. They couldn't get pulled over while heading back into the city and get caught with dozens of firearms. This wouldn't be a fight; they'd get massacred.

"Okay, no one do anything stupid," Geoff says quietly, raising his hands to show his submission. There was a reason coming home so soon was a horrible idea and here it was come to life.

"Stupid like fight back or stupid like get arrested?" Michael asks sharply, carefully following Geoff's lead and lifting his hands. The others follow. It's reluctant and untrusting, the lot of them expecting to be shot even if they went quietly, but they have no choice.

"Get down on the ground! No sudden movements!"

"Just do it, Michael," Geoff replies firmly. As long as they were getting arrested and not shot to death on sight, they could make their escape later. At least, that's what he thinks when he carefully and slowly lowers himself to the ground.

The SWAT team gathers around them swiftly, none too kindly yanking limbs behind backs and patting down thighs and chests in search for concealed weapons. Geoff lifts his head a bit as one of them cuffs his hands together a little too tightly.

“Hey! Watch it!” Ryan snaps, not far off. One of the SWAT members has to hold him down, Ryan's large build struggling passively as another rips his mask off. A different one hits him hard in the back of the neck and Ryan lashes out as much as he can with his wrist bound together. The other hits him in the face. Geoff would remember this. He doesn't like people fucking with his crew; never has. A little past him, Jack lies still under the abuse, knowing fighting will only make it worse. It’s anything but submissive, though, eyes aware and sharp as he looks for anything to distinguish his attackers for later reference.

Perhaps Geoff is so concerned about Ray because he knows how driven people can be to get even. He’s seen it for himself, after all, felt it for himself. Retribution was a powerful thing.

To his other side, Michael is fighting against three SWAT members, likely spurred on by their needless violence and only giving them reason to use more. Gavin yells loud curses and active threats against the unnecessary force they’re using. There’s no Ray. Though he had ridden home with them and even had been walking with them when they were surrounded, he seems to have mysteriously disappeared like a tiny ninja. Or a dirty fucking rat.

Two men yank Geoff to his feet, prodding at him brutally and shoving him in the direction of their truck.

“Walk,” one of them grumbles.

“What the hell did you think I was gonna do? Skip?” Geoff retorts sarcastically. This earns him a hard punch in the stomach. Worth it. They shove him into the back of their van and direct him to sit before slamming the doors closed again. Once they’re gone, he shifts his arms a bit, testing his cuffs. They’re not going to break easily, that’s for sure.

The doors open again and Jack is ushered inside. Paying little mind to their arresters, he sits himself down on the bench across from Geoff and sighs heavily as the doors close. He gives Geoff a confirming look; he hadn’t seen Ray either. They don’t speak here, though, knowing better than to say anything damning in the presence of the LSPD.

Gavin is thrown in with them next, nearly landing on his face with how hard they shove him. Geoff holds out his leg just in case he falls and has to bite his tongue from saying anything that would get Gavin any further beatings. Jack scoots over a little to let Gavin sit between him and the wall.

“Are you alright?” Jack asks him quietly. Gavin squirms slightly, trying to shrug his cuffs off without any luck. He gets his shoulders freed up though and manages to get his feet between his arms to hold his hands in front of him again. Immediately, he rubs his head uncomfortably with his palms.

“My head hurts,” he admits, ruffling his hair before drawing the chains of his handcuffs back behind his neck.

“Concussed?” Jack prompts. Gavin shakes his head a little before finally leaning against Jack’s shoulder disappointedly. He’s pretty badly bruised, but aside from that, is thankfully uninjured. If anything, it’s likely he’s more confused. Everything happened so suddenly.

“You remember what to do, buddy?” Geoff asks quietly. Gavin nods. Though many of them had spent time in the Los Santos prison before, they were pretty good about not getting themselves arrested often and this would be the first time Gavin would see it for himself. It’s not exactly the greatest achievements, that’s for sure.

A heavy thump echos from the back of the van and it sounds like it takes them a few tries to get the doors open again. Sure enough, there’s Michael, throwing a hissy fit worthy of being arrested for. He does everything he can to prevent from being shoved into the back with the rest of them before ultimately being thrown onto the floor of the van on his back and the doors slammed shut. They’ve already muzzled him, likely to stop him from biting.

Gavin grabs the front of Michael’s shirt to help him up off the ground and Michael sits, reluctantly, on Jack’s other side. He glares angrily at the wall beside Geoff. It would be extremely easy to make an escape when they open the doors to throw Ryan in, but the issue is less of how easy it would be and more of how many times they would get shot because that’s also very easy.

“What part of ‘don’t do anything stupid’ was hard to understand?” Geoff says pointedly, giving Michael a hooded stare.

“Well Geoff,” Michael replies behind the bit of leather shielding his mouth and nose. “I’m pretty sure you also said ‘just do it’ and I’m pretty sure that guy said ‘bite me as hard as you fucking can’ so I just fucking did it.”

“You’re lucky they didn’t taser your dumbass. Or worse,” Geoff scoffs. Michael throws himself back a bit, causing the van to shift a little with the force of it alone.

“Don’t worry. Pretty sure Ryan has the taser part down,” he promises. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t please Geoff. If Ryan got himself killed here of all places, he was going to be so pissed off. Jack checks Michael over visually to assure it’s nothing bad. There’s a bit of blood soaking through his shirt, but it’s likely from being shoved against the asphalt rather than the beating itself.

Ryan doesn’t fight back as much as Michael had, but considering his size difference, they are also quick to shock him. He looks pretty fucking upset when they finally drag him into the back. They have to drag him thanks to the fact that he can’t walk straight now, just barely grasping onto control of his muscles again. He's thrown unceremoniously onto the van floor. When the doors close, Gavin is quick to get up to help Ryan up and hold him steady. Geoff moves over, allowing Ryan the space between him and the back wall in some sort of attempt of protection.

The door locks up behind him. There’s definitely no Ray here.

Geoff waits until Ryan regains himself some more before saying anything, though. It’s not like this is the first time he’s been tasered and it’s certainly not going to be the last time, either. He can shake off a lot more than the measly voltage of the official SWAT tasers. Ryan’s the guy that can charge through stun guns. Geoff knows; Geoff was the idiot holding it at the time.

“So,” Geoff begins scathingly. “Where’s Ray?”

“I don’t know,” is the short response.

“Cause he sure as hell isn't here,” Geoff continues.

“I don’t know,” Ryan repeats.

“And I might be wrong, but wasn’t he the one that insisted we returned unarmed? Because I remember that,” he assures. Ryan doesn’t say anything else, hunched over angrily and withdrawn from the rest of them. Geoff leans over and Ryan cuts him a glare. “You get the picture yet, dickhole? Ray. Is not. Your friend.”

“What the fuck do you want from me, Geoff?” Ryan snaps back. “Oh. I’m sorry Geoff, your possessive and jealous nature wasn’t enough to dissuade me from trusting someone who’s been with me through a hell of a lot more than you have. And by the way, for further reference, no, I don’t think Ray is behind this. Not without alternate motives.” He shakes his head a bit before turning away from Geoff. That’s not what Geoff wanted.

Geoff grinds his teeth together, the line of his jaw tightening up under the admission. There are words that Ryan is too calculating to let slip, but he doesn’t need to for them to hear it. They already know, though, that Ryan used to love Ray with the same ferocity that he loves them with. It’s only that maybe that ‘used to’ isn’t entirely correct anymore, if it ever had been. The fear is that they’re becoming that ‘used to’; that in reality they only ever were something to fill the space Ray had left behind, and that space wasn’t there anymore.

It’s not unusual for Ryan to snap, even at Geoff, but the setting is different now. Ryan’s blind faith in Ray was strange and unsettling especially in the face of situations like these. Jack is the first to acknowledge the issue head on.

“Ryan,” he says lowly but evenly. Ryan looks up at him with less bitterness than he holds for Geoff right now. “If you want to leave to be with Ray, that’s fine with me,” Jack assures him. Ryan initially appears alarmed above all else but he quickly draws it back to a state of perplexity. “But you have to tells us before you do and you have to explain yourself because if you don’t, I will hunt you down and it's not gonna be pretty.”

The van stops.

\- x -

They get split up immediately upon arriving at the compound and Geoff doesn't catch sight of one of his boyfriends for nearly twenty four hours. Jack ends up just a couple cells down from him, close enough that Geoff could yell for him but too far to actually talk. They only exchange brief words, making sure of one another's safety.

Gavin is two floors down, but still relatively close by. Geoff and Jack both attempt to yell to him, but he's either too far away or fucking deaf apparently. There's no word or sight of Ryan or Michael. If their vicious struggling was any sign, it's likely they both got out into solitary. Geoff's not sure they'd let Michael out of solitary after what he had done the last time he was here.

Fortunately, Geoff's close enough to Jack that they get taken to meals at the same time and thus have more communication than the others. They do pass Gavin's group leaving the cafeteria, though, and Geoff has already been reprimanded several times for trying to make out with the lad in the halls.

They have an awful lot of freedom in here considering their crimes, Geoff notices immediately. He easily would have ranked high enough to get moved to a higher security prison, but no one had said anything to him so far. Jack's cellmate, some unfortunate auto thief, had informed them already that both Michael and Ryan were still here, having gotten themselves sent to the hole immediately for attacking some guards.

Idiots.

It's only a week before they're all together again. Though Gavin's cell remains in the group behind them, he gets pushed into Geoff and Jack's meal grouping for unknown reasons. He makes haste to the table they occupy as soon as he can, looking frantic and nervous. To be fair, he's never actually been in a jail as a criminal before and is probably having a hell of a time on his own.

"Gavin," Jack greets him at once, Gavin dropping his tray on the table in order to wrap his arms around Jack's neck and kiss him feverishly. A few guards notice but ignore them outright.

"This is bloody awful," Gavin complains loudly as Jack checks out some of his week old bruises. "I can't sleep, the food is gross, my cellmate is a right knob, these clothes are itchy, and I haven't seen the guys in days." He doesn't realise how much worse it could be.

"You sure are complaining a lot for someone who should have been deported or something," Geoff points out. "Shouldn't M14 have picked your British ass up already?"

"You wouldn't let them do that, right?" Gavin questions worriedly. That was a valid concern, after all. Right now they were very coveted men and yet here they were like common criminals. Gavin had his fake paperwork, but nothing that would stand up to scrutiny like this. They should have discovered him already and the fact that they haven't is suspicious.

"No," Jack assures him quickly. "Of course not."

"Oh god, and someone propositioned me the other day," Gavin goes on, easily pacified by the reassurance. He only finally releases Jack to grab a hold of Geoff.

"Jesus, were you the one that curb stomped that guy in the shower?" Jack questions. Gavin bristles a little, pressing his fingers hard into Geoff's shoulders.

"No means no!" he says loudly. No wonder they moved him into another group.

"You did the right thing, buddy," Geoff assures him. Hopefully that only meant no one else would approach him. Gavin was rather small, but he certainly wasn't an easy target. Geoff really didn't think anyone in this prison was going to cause them too much of a problem, though, not once everyone realised they were the Fake AH Crew.

"There's Michael," Jack speaks suddenly, bringing attention to the puffed out figure heading directly for them. He drops his tray with a clatter, immediately grabbing Gavin's face and aggressively pressing their mouths together. Geoff's next.

"Missed you, too, Michael," Geoff breathes when he's no longer being suffocated by the kiss.

"Are you okay?" Jack asks, shifting Gavin over his lap so he can get a closer look at Michael and his mostly healed scraps. Michael huffs loudly, allowing Jack to look at the small scabs around his ears left behind from the leather muzzle.

"I'm fine," he growls. "Did you know that having several boyfriends makes you like a fucking mega gay because apparently it does and if one more fucking assholes wolf whistles at me, I'm going to lose my fucking shit. Why the hell are we still here?" Geoff is sure that Michael missed them, of course, but his kisses were equal parts happy to see them and 'look how big and deadly my boyfriends are'. If he just got out of solitary, he's not going to go back for something stupid like assaulting his harassers.

"Good question," Ryan comments, joining them suddenly. No one says anything to him for a few moments. Geoff's had time to think; they all have. However, here isn't the place and now isn't the time.

"Did anyone else see a lawyer?" Geoff questions now that they're all here. Jack stops kissing Michael long enough to answer even if somewhat distractedly.

"Yeah, actually," he replies.

"Aren't you supposed to?" Gavin says curiously.

"Gavin, if you haven't noticed, Los Santos isn't exactly on the up and up on following the rules," Geoff points out blandly. "We weren't even read Miranda rights when we were apparently arrested, never saw a judge, never got a bail posted- why would we see lawyers now?"

"Did you talk to your lawyer?" Ryan asks.

"Hell no. I didn't know him," Geoff scoffs. Now was not the time to be talking to random lawyers showing up out of the woodwork. Jack shakes his head as well, certainly knowing better than to chat up strange 'lawyers'.

"Do you know what we're in here for?" Ryan follows up.

"Uh, terrorism? First degree murder, second degree murder, third degree murder- is there a fourth degree, because we've probably done that, too. Homicide, theft, grand theft, super mega theft, possession of firearms without permits, possession of illegal firearms, possession of explosives, literally all of the traffic laws," Geoff lists on. "Am I missing something because the list is long as dicks."

"Possession of codeine," Ryan says, smirking at his tray of food.

"Yeah, drug possession is probably on that list right under drug trafficking and above drug use," Geoff agrees blandly. None of this was exactly helping them, now was it?

"No," Ryan corrects himself. "We're in here for possession of codeine. That's all. There's nothing else. Sixteen months." Geoff doesn't say anything.

"Fucking codeine? That's it?" Michael questions briskly but quietly like he's not really sure Ryan is telling the truth. The smile that curves over Ryan's features tells it all.

"How?" Jack demands. "There's evidence- there's witnesses. No one's going to believe we're innocent."

"No one has to," Ryan promises, his grin only widening. He looks away from his food finally, looking over Jack and Michael before turning to face Geoff and Gavin. "It's gone. Everything's gone."

"You-" Geoff starts and it ends with an annoyed, "Ray."

"Ulterior motives," Ryan laughs. Geoff's about ready to smack that smile off his face, that's for sure.

"Oh great, so we're going to be bloody stuck here for sixteen months?" Gavin asks irritability. The last thing any of them wanted was to have to hide out here for over a year. Hiding was not a Fake AH strong suit.

"I doubt it," Ryan assures him. "But I do know that we're safer in here than out there right now. Even Geoff had a hard time getting someone in here. Had to get Michael arrested."

"Yeah, just have to not get beat to death by the guards," Michael answers sarcastically.

"Here's a hint, don't fucking fight them," Geoff says in a sharp tone. He hadn't the chance to be annoyed at them for that yet. Michael scoffs and murmurs something about 'fighting whoever he wants' that is ignored purposefully.

"So what, do we just wait around until Ray decides to come get us?" Jack asks obviously a little unsure of everything about this. It sounded suspicious, definitely. If Ray really had done all of that, exactly how dangerous was he? Besides, they weren't as safe as Ryan wanted to think. It would only take one guard being bought out to turn things out of their favor.

"Relax," Ryan purrs, far too pleased with himself for Geoff's liking. "It's a prison, not a coffin. I'm getting moved into another cell later tomorrow and I'm willing to bet I won't be the only one."

"I always wanted a vacation to the Los Santos prison," Geoff says with dripping sarcasm. "Booze free, I might add."

"Well-"

"First person to suggest toilet wine gets a mouthful."

\- x -

“Is a bolt action shotgun really the best you could do?” Ray questions over the noise of him attempting to reload the ridiculous shot gun. It’s amazing people still make these things, that’s for sure.

“Well, someone had to blow up a building and get my boss arrested. Do you know how hard it is to get three models of the same gun with the cops all over Ammu-Nation's asshole? I did what I could, okay?” comes the response in his ear. “If the TF2 Sniper can do it, so can you. They worked, didn’t they?”

“In the loosest definition of the word, I guess,” Ray agrees reluctantly. He slings the one in his grasp over his shoulder with the other two. Carefully, he slinks out from behind his cover to assess the damage around him. As cumbersome as bolt action shotguns were to use and load, they did do the job eventually. The lot of men that once occupied the warehouse now occupy the floor, dead bodies piled up somewhat haphazardly wherever they’d happened to fall. It was going to be tedious to move them all, but no more tedious than the rest of his plan has been. All of this was a lot more difficult to do with his still healing wounds, not that he would ever admit to that.

If the crew wasn’t going to listen to him then he simply prefered to have them out of the way for a while. Fairly, he did have their best interest in mind. They couldn’t hurt themselves in prison. Probably. There was an obvious pattern forming around them and Ray was already incredibly aware that it ended poorly for everyone involved. He never expected them to trust him, but corralling a bunch of idiots wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, either. There was a moment where he wondered how Ryan could do it before remembering Ryan was also an idiot.

It was possible Ray also earned that title by simply associating with the crew.

“These guys got here fast. The crew’s only been held for a couple days,” Lindsay notes on the other side of his mic. She’s right. The team of mobsters sent from who cares where got here far too quickly to be here to take Fake AH’s place. Of course, though, that’s not what they were here for. They were here for him. Fortunately, their timing was perfect. Unfortunately, the next part of his plan wasn't glamorous.

“Being here at all is too fast for my taste,” Ray replies simply. “And now they’re not.”

“They’re definitely not,” she agrees. “Geoff would probably appreciate this if you weren’t the one to get him arrested in the first place.”

“I didn’t get them arrested,” Ray argues, already beginning to drag the bodies around the cluttered warehouse. He didn't care so much what it looked like, he just needed them spread out evenly to identify. “I just put them in a position where they wouldn’t get closed casket funerals. The SWAT team was going to be there anyways.”

“You got them arrested,” Lindsay translates. She reads him too well. Ray had known she was here and actively worked a hand in Ryan’s crew, just like he knew about the rest of them. The only difference is that they weren’t a threat to him. Not that Lindsay was. Like himself, unless he purposely came after her with malicious intent or if he proved to be worth the money, she would leave him alone. That’s what he thinks, anyways. At the moment, Lindsay appears to only have an interest in working for Geoff.

Which could come back to bite him in the ass, but for now, it is an edgy friendship.

“They’ll forgive me,” Ray says nonchalantly. Lindsay laughs. Whether they forgave him or not wasn't really an issue. At this point, it was like throwing charcoal into a forest fire; it wasn't going to get any worse. “Hey, could you do me a favor, Lindsay?”

“Depends on the favor. I already did you a massive favor here, you know,” she points out. Ray doesn’t think that’s entirely true. Obviously the crew doesn’t know she’s from Republica and by keeping that a secret between them, he counts them as even for this. He knows she knows that he knows because he knows that she knows that he’s from Republica. He also knows Ryan has no idea and neither does Geoff. If any of the others know, it’s not something they’re consciously aware of.

“It’s more of a request,” Ray promises.

“Uh huh,” Lindsay says, unconvinced. No, Ray didn't actually think that would work.

“You know about Bio, right?” he asks. Lindsay doesn’t say anything straightaway, but Ray doesn’t think she’s trying to recall it; she's trying to figure out why he's asking. If she doesn’t know, he would be incredibly surprised. He would also call her a liar.

“You mean what happened with your new-slash-old partner?” she replies. She definitely knows. Fairly, Ray thinks everyone at Republica knows. It wasn't exactly a shining moment for him but infamy didn't care.

“Yeah. Don’t mention it to Ryan,” he says. Another pause. Ray knows Lindsay probably hadn’t given it a second thought until now, but when Ryan found out about her, and he would eventually even if not from Ray's lips, he would immediately prompt Lindsay on what he had missed in the last six years. Not necessary because he missed Ray, Ray wasn’t so disillusioned to believe that Ryan would care anything about what happened after he had left, but simply to try and discover Ray’s ‘angle’. Things unimportant to Ryan's goal would arise with it.

“What’s in it for me?” Lindsay finally questions. They are a business of profit, after all. She had to be getting something good out of working for Geoff and Ray isn't so sure it's money. He's also largely uninterested.

“I’ll wipe your FBI clearance?” Ray offers. She considers it with a small hum.

“Are you going to tell him?” Lindsay inquires curiously. Absolutely not. He knew Ryan too well. This was information that would do neither of them any good if Ryan decided to act on it and Ray knew it. Lindsay likely also knew this, otherwise she wouldn’t have asked, however the outcome she saw was not what Ray saw.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Ray admits as he takes another shot at a twitching corpse. The sound that rings out through the warehouse is familiar if not only because of how long he's been in this work. It's a nice sound.

“Alright! Deal,” Lindsay agrees.

“Final deal?” he assures.

“Final deal,” she promises.

“Cool. Help me with this logo, would you. Is this like- a duck or?”

\- x -

The cells they are moved into are given to them very meticulously, that is without a doubt. Even without Republica on his side, Ray proves to have very strong connections or at the very least, methods. Ryan isn’t really surprised but it’s not something he’s happy about, either. If Ray still has connections, that means Republica is still hoping to get him back, and if this is pure Ray, then he’s gained far more skills in the last six years than Ryan could have guessed. What could he say? That scares him.

They get separated into three squares side by side further down in the prison, known home to some of the lesser volatile criminals. Ryan isn’t sure they fall into that category, but he’s also sure that’s largely irrelevant to their change. Michael and Gavin share a cell, then Geoff on his own, and then Ryan and Jack room together in the last one. It’s no accident, either, as the wall between the lad’s cell and Geoff’s cell has a giant hole right under the edge of the bed the perfect size for the smaller lads to squeeze through.

The guards don’t even give them a second look and while Geoff instructs not to push the issue, Ryan doesn’t think anything below murdering another convict would get them noticed. Gavin brutally smashed a man’s teeth out and didn’t so much as see a second of solitary confinement. Not that the man didn’t deserve it, of course. They were some of the most dangerous criminals known to Los Santos and here they were like white collar criminals.

A part of Ryan almost feels offended.

The rest of him is sore and annoyed. Ryan was glad they were together now but he would be enthused if they were together and not in jail. Sleeping is unfortunately difficult, but it seems like that’s always the cause with him. Whether it’s creeping insomnia or poor dreams or anxiety, sleep has simply never been an easy thing.

He's not the only one tonight.

"You alright, Ryan?" Jack murmurs quietly, sitting himself on the cold concrete floor beside Ryan. The beds were a little stiff for Ryan's liking, the floor literally being more appealing.

"Mm," Ryan replies approvingly. "You know me. Can never sleep when I need it." For a while, he thought he could handle Ray coming back into his life but the more he thought about, the less that turned out to be. His boyfriends could probably sense it on him, too.

"Yeah," Jack agrees. "I keep having these dreams," he admits. He's not the only one. Besides Ryan, Gavin's mentioned nightmares as well, though he won't say what about. Michael hasn't said anything, but Ryan knows he's not exactly sleeping easy, either.

"About Ray?" Ryan asks and maybe it's only so he can feel guilty about it when Jack confirms it. Jack nods a little, running his fingers through his ginger beard.

"Sometimes," he says. "They're not all nightmares. Sometimes Ray's actually the hero. Saving us and whatever." That wasn't something Ryan wanted to hear. Jack yawns tiredly, possibly awaiting Ryan to say something of his own volition. Ryan doesn't want to talk about it but he knows he should. He needs to talk to Jack because he'll understand.

"I've been having dreams, too," Ryan sighs. He's not alone anymore and he sure as hell isn't going to let himself start withdrawing from his relationship now. "Perhaps not dreams."

"Nightmares?" Jack questions.

"Not entirely. More like memories, albeit poorly remembered," he explains. Jack rests a hand on Ryan's thigh gently, only assuring him of his presence. "Memories that very rapidly morph into nightmares."

"About Ray?" Jack repeats.

"Unfortunately not always," Ryan answers. Nightmares about Ray he could handle. "Last night-" he pauses. Ryan is not ashamed of the work he did for Republica, but he is afraid of how they'll react to hearing about the things he's done. Jack squeezes his leg softly.

"Ray and I did this job," Ryan tells. "Some jealous idiot wanted their husband, or boyfriend maybe, I don't actually recall, to pay; a torture job," the words feel worse leaving his mouth. It's not the same as what he does for the crew. It wasn't 'make them talk', it was 'fuck them up and get paid'. The small difference was morally miles apart.

"Ray did the kidnapping part, brought him to the warehouse or safe house we had, bag over the guy's head and everything. I did the dirty work. I never unbagged him, I know I didn't, Ray had insisted. Didn't kill him, either. It wasn't about that. In my dream though, when we're done and I'm standing there, covered in blood, Ray pulls the bag off," Ryan says and he's glad he doesn't have to look at Jack while he does. He can feel his heart in his throat at the very thought of what came next. It wasn't real, but that didn't matter to the rest of him.

"And it's Gavin. And I know it wasn't Gavin. This guy was too big to be Gavin, didn't sound like him, didn't move like him. But it's him and he's dead. I could just tell." Just thinking about having done something like that to Gavin makes Ryan shake a bit. He wanted to strangle the lad sometimes, sure, but never that; never anything like that. Jack remains calmly silent, only listening as Ryan goes on.

"Ray turns to me and he smiles like I've never seen Ray smile, all teeth and edges, and he says 'you're not going to leave me, Ryan, you're never going to leave me'. I usually wake up immediately after something like that but I don't and I just have to stand there and look at Gavin's body," Ryan murmurs. It's easily one of the worse dreams he's had so far and he's concerned they're only going downhill. There's silence between them while Jack takes the story in. Ryan doesn't feel exceptionally better having said it outloud, but maybe that's because the dream isn't his only anxiety.

"Do you think Ray would really do something like that?" Jack finally asks. Ryan barks a quiet laugh.

"No," he assures. It's horrifying to think about, but it's also ridiculous to the point of being funny. "Absolutely not. Ray isn't that kind of cruel and he certainly isn't the jealous type." At least, that's what Ryan remembers. Ray could be spiteful, but he was also swift and merciful with it. He wouldn't waste his time doing something like that. Ryan is sure Ray would shoot them both before planning something so elaborate.

"Are you afraid of him?" Jack questions. It's not an aimless question, either. Ryan's having these dreams for a reason.

"A little," Ryan admits. He’s afraid of Ray in a way that he can’t explain easily. He’s afraid of Ray like he’s afraid of a loaded gun; not really but perhaps a little. He knows it’s dangerous and that’s one of the reasons he’s so drawn to them. He knows that if he’s not careful, he could very easily shot himself or worse still, someone else could. He knows that guns don’t kill people; Ray does. "But I have to say, I'm more afraid of myself."

"You think you might love him again?" Jack asks. Ryan doesn't answer. He used to be like Ray, after all. It had been so easy to do whatever needed to be done to complete his tasks, even if it meant leaving his partners to die; even if it meant killing them himself. He used to be scary and quiet unless he needed or wanted something that he could get better with charm.

Then Ray had loved him and he had changed a little. Just a little. He had changed enough to expand his survival instincts to require Ray. Then he had met his boys and metamorphosed into what he is now. Just look at him, talking out his issues instead of dismissing and eradicating them.

What if Ray could change too? Or worse, what if he didn't need to.

"I'm not going to leave you for Ray, you know," Ryan says, putting his hand over Jack's. Jack laughs under his breath in an attempt to not disturb anyone else.

"Of course not," he agrees. "You adore us far too much for that." Ryan grins. He's glad Jack knows that.

"I really do," Ryan confirms. He looks over to Jack finally and Jack looks back. "I really, really do." It's unquestionable, of course, but they also know that none of them had ever planned on having a five person polyfidelic relationships, either. There was more than one solution to this Ray 'problem'. If it became a problem which it wasn’t really one, not yet.

"I love you," Jack says softly, leaning over to kiss Ryan's lips. Ryan meets him gladly, their coarse facial hair scratching together.

"I love you, too, Jack."

\- x -

“You can’t move a knight that way,” Ryan explains idly. He sits slouched back in an uncomfortable chair, having tried his best to make himself comfortable without much luck. Gavin scoffs a little, moving the white piece back to where it had been before reaching for another. They’ve been playing for a while but many of the pieces on the board haven’t been moved yet. It’s less playing and more ‘gently’ reminding Gavin of how to play. He’s insisted that he’s played before.

“You can’t move a pawn _that_  way,” Ryan assures him simply, crossing his arms irritably. If there was one thing that sitting around all day was accomplishing, it was making them restless and irritable. Michael isn’t even playing and he wants to launch the game board across the room. That’s how they lost a fourth of the pieces out of the checkers board.

Though they share the common room with the other prisoners, they dominate it completely. It’s not without its issues, unfortunately, but they’ve proven themselves intimidating enough and skilled enough to keep most of the violent idiots off their backs. Most people only need to be shanked once to step off. Michael finds it a bit regrettable; he could really use the fight right now.

Geoff and Jack manage to look less restless than the rest of them, but Michael knows this is largely a charade. A calm man doesn’t strong arm a bunch of people in a basketball game. _Jack_. Geoff is only fairly slightly better, sobriety definitely helping him along. Honestly, they would probably all like it a bit better if he sobered up more often, but no one would really suggest that. There are certain things about one another that they simply wouldn’t touch and Geoff's drinking is one of them.

“Hey assholes, check this out,” Geoff calls out to them, beckoning their attention to the crappy little television they have the honor of using. He turns the volume up a little more to assure they all can hear it.

 _“Over thirty bodies were discovered in a local warehouse late last night,”_  the anchor person explains and an image of said unnamed location is displayed. Whatever bodies mentioned obviously had been moved already, but the blood stains remain under foot of the police investigating the manner. _“Police have informed that this is the work of gang on gang violence and citizens should not be concerned. Many of the bodies have been identified as members of a mob originating from the north east region.”_

“Michael,” Gavin murmurs quietly. “Do you think-?”

“No,” Michael cuts him off sharply, not even wanting to hear the rest of the obviously dumb question.

“Yeah, but-” Gavin tries again.

“Would you shut your fucking yap? I’m trying to listen,” Michael snaps at him, crossing his arms briskly and inhaling loudly in annoyance. Gavin backs off the topic.

 _“The police are currently tracking down any leads.”_  The image fades to a painted inscription drawn painstaking on a brick wall of the building, the rust coloured image likely drawn on with blood. It reads ‘don’t fuck with the fake’ and the very familiar emblem resigns beneath it. It had to have been Ray considering they’re all trapped in here and what few members of the crew that weren’t staying low were smart enough not to do something so fucking stupid.

 _“We have a guest here to discuss the recent events in Los Santos today. Tell me, do you think the police are really doing everything they can to protect this city?”_  

“What the fuck is he doing?” Geoff snaps to no one in particular, or more specifically, not to Ryan.

“And why the hell is he doing it without us?” Michael demands. There was no way this mob had been sent by the family let alone sent for him, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want a piece of the action. He remembered a lot of people from his hometown and there wasn’t a single one he wouldn’t strangle if he got the chance. This was getting worse by the minute.

_”What can they do? Take this Geoff Ramsey for example. He’s nothing but a mindless brute; a psychopath! And where did he come from? The Chainsaw Butchers. You cut the head off of one of these things and they just grow another two in its place. If you ask me, arresting the Fake AH Crew will just leave more gangs to take their place.”_

“Watching our backs?” Ryan suggests, his focus still trained on the telly curiously. His attention is largely partial, however, actively listening to the conversation between them more than the discussion on screen. “Though at this rate, I don’t see why keeping our territory would be a good thing.”

“Oh right, a bunch of people came down here to take over Los Santos,” Jack snorts. He has a fair point. Their crappy little town wasn’t exactly the luxury of places. “We have to assume that anyone and everyone is after us at this point.”

“Yeah, but from way back east?” Gavin prompts.

_”The fact of the matter is; this isn’t the Fake AH Crew’s typical MO. It just isn’t! All this police activity only rallied them up! They’re sending us a message and that message is that this Haywood and Narvaez thing is their business and if the police keep trying to intervene, they’re just going to get burned."_

“Word travels fast when you have connections,” Ryan assures him. Michael grinds his teeth in his head. He was sick of standing by while Ray got to do all the work. Who the hell did he think he was? That had been Michael’s fight and he knew it. “Jack’s right, though, and if that’s what Ray was protecting us from then we’ll be out of here soon.”

“I doubt it,” Geoff grumbles. “If that’s Ray’s reason for keeping us locked up in here, I’ll fucking suck my own dick.”

“Republica might have been helping them,” Ryan informs him off handedly.

“I thought you said no one from Republica would come after you?” Michael questions in a condescending tone.

“No, they won't, but they’re still for hire,” Ryan says. “If someone were to, let’s say, request for someone to help skew the odds in their favor against Ray, I’m sure there are plenty of people that would take the money.” Oh, that’s just fantastic.

“Wouldn’t they be worried Ray would hunt them down?” Gavin asks curiously.

“Republica- doesn’t work that way,” Ryan tries to explain. He turns his attention back the chess board before him. “If everyone held personal vendettes against one another, they’d never get anywhere. Ray wouldn’t give it a second thought. Uh, won’t.”

“I will,” Geoff mumbles and it’s possible that it could be entirely to himself. As much as being sober helps him, it also deters him unfortunately. Michael flops in the empty chair beside him, sinking low in it with a bitter huff.

“Geoff,” Ryan sighs softly. “Don’t get any ideas, please.” It’s a plea that he knows is falling on deaf ears, but one he has to make all the same. Michael can’t say that he has support, either. If Ryan thinks that any of them wouldn’t hold a grudge against Republica, and Ray for that matter, for any reason, he was sorely incorrect.

“I am the king of not getting ideas,” Geoff assures him mildly. “Don’t worry Ryan.”

Ryan exhales roughly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologises for not reply to many [read:any] comments, but i really do appreciate them so much you have no idea. thank you all for reading and all your comments and kudos, i am glad you enjoy it as much as i enjoy writing it. i will probably be adding some in chapter warnings to the next two chapters, so please be aware [and if you're wondering, there will absolutely be smut give it like three chapters ok]
> 
> next time; what's a gta!au without someone getting kidnapped


	6. Because I Can't Forget

Ryan awakens warm and comfortably, the first time in so many days now. He adjusts himself a little, uncertain as to where he is immediately. It feels like his bed. He’s a little disoriented when he first opens his eyes and is met with the sight of the ceiling of his room. This is definitely his room and he is thankful for that. It felt nice to be home. He closes his eyes again for a few moments before suddenly opening them.

Ryan does not remember coming home. He checks his hands at once, counting and recounting his fingers to make sure there’s the correct number of them. Not dreaming, then, of course not. He only dreams about memories and this certainly isn’t one of his memories. He remembers now, escaping the prison and assures himself that this is perfectly normal with a slightly nod.

Being home is nothing short of wonderful right now as Ryan has had quite enough of running around and sleeping in small, uncomfortable beds. He rolls over to cuddle against whoever happens to be sleeping along side him at the moment. They’re cold to the touch, he notices at once. Like abnormally cold to the touch. Ryan peeks an eye open and his heart nearly stops.

“Jesus! Geoff!” Ryan practically throws himself out of the bed in reflex alone, grasping at the edge of it desperately. He’s back on his feet swiftly though, yanking the blankets off the bed and grabbing Geoff’s shoulders. Ryan has no idea what to do. There’s no helping Geoff, that much is clear considering the entire left side of his head seems to have gotten up close and personal with the muzzle of a shotgun. He feels like he’s going to vomit.

Before he can even consider doing anything else, Ryan’s mind quickly reels back. The others. He backs away from the bed, having to tear his eyes away from Geoff as he stumbles toward the door. Gavin’s shout gets his attention immediately. Ryan comes across Jack’s body in the hallway and a wave of dizziness washes over him suddenly and without warning causing him to stumble over himself. He presses against the wall, avoiding Jack’s slumped and bloody posture as he hurries after Gavin’s voice.

“Gavin!” Ryan calls out for him, doing his best to keep himself upright while dashing up the stairs. His head is swimming, but he has to help Gavin and Michael if he’s still alive. The sound of a gunshot makes Ryan move a lot quicker.

“Gavin!” he shouts again, running for the kitchen on unsteady feet and grasping at anything to help him stay upright. Something’s wrong here but Ryan doesn’t dedicate much thought to the feeling. Geoff and Jack are dead, of course something’s fucking wrong. He throws himself against the counter to keep himself on his feet, hardly able to look upon Gavin’s still warm and twitching body. It’s instinct at this point, knowing that Gavin was instantly rendered dead by the shot.

Ryan forces himself to move on, pushing away any thoughts that arose that made him believe he could help. Michael still had to be here. Michael still had to be alive. God, let Michael still be alive. Ryan hurriedly follows the trail of blood that leads out of the kitchen and up the stairs into the study. The door is cracked slightly and Ryan can see the light shining out from it into the dark apartment.

A gunshot.

“Michael!” Ryan can hear the echo of his own voice. He throws himself into the room, flinging the door open violently and almost losing his balance in the process. What greets him is Ray’s backside. Ray peers over his shoulder mildly, hooded gaze unbothered by Ryan's presence. Ryan already knew Ray had done this, how could he not, but the blood dripping off the sawn-off shotgun in his hands didn’t help. The sorrow building up at the back of Ryan’s throat evaporates as he looks upon Michael lying on the floor with a ragged and exposed hole in his chest.

“Ray,” Ryan growls out. Rage is prominent. He’d never be angry enough for Ray to understand, but he could sure as hell try. His hands wrap tightly around Ray’s throat before he can even think about it, lifting the shorter figure up off the floor without any effort. Ray doesn’t fight back, he doesn’t even struggle, but instead lowers his hands at his side idly. “I’ll fucking kill you.”

“For what?” Ray questions, arching a brow. Ryan shakes him violently.

“What the fuck do you mean for what‽” he snaps back, fingers tightening against Ray’s windpipe. Ray doesn’t even seem to notice. He wouldn’t, of course. He’s a remorseless animal. Michael makes a small groan from the floor and Ryan freezes. Before he can do anything, everything to help Michael, Ray aims his gun point blank and extinguishes Ryan’s little light.

Ryan launches Ray into the wall, shattering the picture he lands against and earning a mild ‘uff’ from him.

“Why are you mad at me?” Ray demands, holding the back of his head in one of his hands as he tries to sit up. Ryan can not even fathom a response. “I only did what you asked, Ryan.”

“I would have never asked for this!” Ryan roars, approaching on Ray fiercely. Ray looks up at him, utterly unconvinced. He stays on the floor, surrounded by glass pieces and speckled with blood; some of it his own.

“You did. You told me to kill them before they could kill you. You were so sure they would turn on you,” Ray explains plainly, sneering as he looks down to the gun in his hands. Ryan makes himself breath and count to ten. This isn’t real. It’s just another nightmare. He’s not sure now why he figured thirteen was the right amount of fingers for him to possess. “Just like you were so sure I would.”

Dreaming doesn’t make it hurt less.

“No. I wouldn't have,” Ryan insists firmly. “I would rather die than make that mistake again.” Ray stares at him, unwavering browns looking straight through him. Ryan backs up a step worriedly and Ray tilts his head to one side.

“I loved you,” Ray says quietly and then he smiles sadly and he laughs. “I loved you so much, Ryan,” he pleads. Ryan has never seen Ray cry, not for real. It’s kind of heartbreaking, actually, but it also proves that this really is just a dream. He makes the decision not to say anything more; he doesn’t want things to spiral anymore out of his control.

“Why didn’t you come back to me? Why didn’t you apologise? I would have taken any excuse, any lie!” he shouts. Ryan isn’t sure what’s worse, that this is all his own mind at work or that Ray might actually feel like this. He of all people should know Ray isn't an emotionless monster; remorseless, sure.

“I don’t even know what I did wrong,” Ray murmurs softly. It all happens very quickly, too fast for Ryan to stop it and certainly too fast to even know if he would. Ray twirls his shotgun upright against his chin and the last thing Ryan hears before being jerked into the waking word is the trigger being pulled. The ringing echoes in his ears as he sits up suddenly and struggles to get to his feet.

Carefully, Ryan sits himself down again and forces himself to inhale and exhale evenly. When he finally gathers some of his senses, he focuses on his surroundings again. Jack is watching him worriedly from the sink, midway through brushing his teeth. Jack’s fine. He’s alive. They’re all alive. Ryan shakes a hand at him slightly, waving off any concern Jack has for him.

“Nightmare,” he says simply. Jack probably already knew that, though. It's been mentioned enough. Ryan rubs his chest a little, trying to ease the discomfort caused by his rapid heart beat and strangled breathing. He really needed to get this under control.

“Wanna talk about it?” Jack questions. Ryan shakes his head. Most of it’s already leaving his mind anyway and for that, he’s thankful. He doesn’t want to remember or repeat any of that. Just thinking about waking up next to Geoff like that made his heart sink. Jack accepts his answer respectfully and goes back to brushing his teeth. Ryan doesn’t need to be assured that he can talk to Jack, or the others, whenever he needs to.

Slowly, Ryan stands again, much more steady on his feet now that he’s actually awake and not in a frantic state of panic. He cracks his back and rolls his shoulders to shake off the stiffness gained from sleeping on the hard jail beds. It works a little bit. When he approaches the little sink, Jack hands him his toothbrush.

“Just so you know, just because you’re my boyfriend doesn’t mean this isn’t gross,” he says. Ryan can't help but grin a little, arching a questioning brow in lieu of a verbal reply. “Gavin took my toothbrush to make a shiv.”

“Oh Jack,” Ryan sighs in reply, throwing one arm around Jack’s shoulder and using the other to take his toothbrush back. “What’s mine is yours, babe.”

“If you use my toothbrush at home, I’m going to shoot you,” Jack assures him.

“I love you, too, Jack,” Ryan answers. He takes Jack’s place at the sink to begin grooming himself for the day. It’s incredibly nice that these cells have their own sinks as opposed to the ones they were previously hulled up in. It could be worse. “Why is Gavin making a shiv?”

“Shivs,” Gavin corrects from the next cell over. His hand appears between the bars, reaching around blindly for a moment before retreating back. A few seconds later, he quickly returns with a handful of fairly well made shivs. They weren’t great, but they’d do in a pinch. “We’re gettin’ moved to a higher security prison this morning. Sounds like the perfect bloody time to stage an escape.”

“Not if you keep saying shit like that out loud,” Geoff assures him sharply.

“I mean, we’re not escaping,” Gavin says a little louder. It’s followed by a soft ‘twump’ from next door and a small ‘ow’ from Gavin. Jack takes the small blades from Gavin’s grasp and his hand disappears back into his own cell.

“You idiot,” Geoff scoffs. Trying to take over a prison bus with nothing but shivs definitely sounds like what Ryan is used to. He examines the makeshift weapon to assess what it’ll hold up against before hiding it in his clothing. They’d be searched, of course, but he doesn’t think the guards are going to say anything about it. In fact, they hadn’t said much of anything at all after the initial jump in. He’d be willing to bet that Gavin was right and this change was meant for them to make their grand escape. Why else would they be suddenly moved into a high security facility?

“What’s the plan?” Jack prompts, hiding away his own shiv in a similar fashion.

“Stab people; don’t get stabbed,” Geoff explains. Jack sighs deeply. Yeah, this was a Fake AH plan. “We’re betting on this being a bus, I need you behind the wheel asap, got it Jack?” Anything else and they were probably going to be screwed. Even Ryan thought it to be a bit of a stretch to try and escape from an armored van with a sharpened toothbrush.

“No problem,” Jack agrees.

“Guards incoming. Get back in here, Gav,” Michael calls from the furthest cell. There’s the muffled sound of Gavin quickly squeezing himself back through the hole in the wall. Ryan and Jack stand away from the bars, already knowing the procedure of being moved out of their cells well. Two guards arrive before their cell, and two more stand in front of the cell at the opposite end where Michael and Gavin hold up. They might be in here for a minor drug offense, but these people knew what they had done and they weren’t about to forget it so easily. Light security wasn't exactly in the works.

“Geoff Ramsey, Gavin Ramsey, Michael Ramsey, Jack Ramsey, James Ramsey,” the warden lists off tiredly. He hasn’t given them much of an issue, either, and Ryan knows it frustrates the man beyond belief but whatever is being held against him is something he won’t dare try to toe across. “Or whatever you're calling yourselves now-”

“Personally, I prefer ‘Boss’,” Geoff assures him. The warden sighs heavily.

“You’re being moved, thank god, to a high security facility. The paperwork’s processed and you can get the hell out of my prison,” he informs them more than gladly. The LSPD were known for their brutality and allowing five high ranking criminals like them to do whatever they pleased within his prison had to be a hard blow to the ego. Ryan can just barely see him when he moves forward to meet the edge of Geoff’s cell. “And you be sure to tell your little buddy that I did what she asked and I best not hear anything from her again.”

She?

“We’ll see, Mr. Orange,” Geoff replies with a cocky tone. The warden takes his leaves with grated teeth and defensive shoulders. The guards approach the cells individually.

“Let’s see your hands, Ramsey.”

“You first Pattillo,” the guard instructs. Jack obeys without much complaint. He’s not one to provoke someone so needlessly. Usually. Ryan, however, is. When Jack steps away from the bars, hands cuffed in front of him safely, the guard turns on Ryan next. “Haywood.”

Ryan makes no suggestion that he has heard the man even remotely. He doesn’t feel this is unprovoked, either, unlike Jack. The guard is choosing to call them by their ‘real’ names because he wants to make sure that everyone here knows they know their real names. Which is fine and all, but Ryan wants to assure him that’s not a good thing.

“Haywood,” the guard repeats stiffly.

“You must not have heard. There isn’t a Haywood here, _sir_ ,” Ryan reassures him. Maybe he’s pushing his luck for little gain but the annoyed clech of teeth is more than enough of a reward. He receives a forced smile.

“Apologises. Ramsey’s _slut_ , approach for cuffing,” he sneers. Ryan grins, extending his hands out as he takes his place in front of the cell door.

“That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” Ryan coos.

It's a decent lengthed walk to the prison entrance, Geoff leading their little pack as the guards escort them through. Of course, they're searched individually before leaving and of course, Ryan's shiv is found practically immediately. There's a moment where Ryan thinks the guard is actually going to do something about, the man's bagged and narrowed brown eyes meeting his own firmly. Another guard nudges him, though, and Ryan's allowed on through with his little makeshift blade.   
Just as he expected. So much for the strong and brutal.

The bus is small and not heavily armed. In fact, it doesn't even seem heavily guarded, a lone figure standing beside it and nothing more. It would take a lot more than one guard to handle them, that should be known already. One by one, they're each guided to the bus doors and ushered inside by Los Santos guards.

Ryan sees the double take Michael makes at the figure that has arrived with the bus. The weak spots in armor like that was easy to get to up close, especially with small blades. There'd be nothing to this fight. When Ryan sits in one of the seats, he sits alone. Geoff takes up the bench across from him and Gavin in front of him. Jack sits closer to the front of the small bus, closer to the driver hidden away in their little compartment. Michael isn't far off, in good position to lend Jack a hand when the time came.

"Are you sure you don't want some more men with you?" Ryan can hear the guard just outside, stressing the suggestion with knowledge he can't openly share. He doesn't get a reply, at least not one Ryan hears, and the walking suit of armor steps into the bus and closes the door. They were in for a treat when Ryan cracked that helmet off like an eggshell.

No one makes any immediate moves, the lot of them riding quietly under the watch of helmet face. Ryan supposes there's a good reason for them to hide their face but it's not really going to matter in the end. Geoff waits until they're clear of the jail and far out of sight before motioning to Ryan with his head. They're small movements, but Ryan reads them easily.

Lure the guard back here.

Ryan nods shortly, leaning himself over to hide behind the seat in front of him and retrieving the shiv from his jumper. The guard doesn't even move. He sits back up quickly, holding his hands down low to work the cuffs off. They were fairly good quality, but Ryan was better. Plain old cuff like these just needed a bit if leverage on the lock. The clank of the cuffs hitting the ground gets the guard's attention but urges no movement.

"Ah, shit," he curses under his breath, loud enough for the guard to hear. "Stupid things pinched me." The guard begins towards him calmly. Once within range, Geoff strikes out. He makes to wrap his chains around the guard's neck, but they move too fast. Geoff's cuff chain is caught dead still in the guard's iron grip and Ryan has to move to assist him. His shiv is knocked from his hand and under a seat with a sharp jab of an elbow but Ryan is much larger than the figure and a gets his arm around that scrawny neck with easy.

He loosens his grip when the helmet falls away.

"Lindsay?" Geoff murmurs. The mass of red hair that falls from out of the helmet is unmistakable. She turns her head back a little to peer at Ryan, one hand grasping at his arm with the faintest of touches. Ryan did not know Lindsay to be much of a fighter, but here she was. She’d stopped Geoff cold and even in chains, Geoff wasn’t exactly a lightweight. Honestly, Ryan should have assumed as much from her.

“As much as I’m glad to see you and as much as I really love throat hugs, if some citizens see you trying to take control of a prison bus, they might call the cops,” Lindsay says, nudging his arm lightly. Ryan releases her quickly, sitting himself down and taking a swift glance out the window to assure none of the passing cars are paying them any mind. “Thanks, babe.”

“What are you doing?” Michael questions sharply. Lindsay picks up her helmet, tucking it under one of her arms before picking out a handcuff key from her pocket. She passes it on to Geoff first.

“Ray asked me to give him a hand getting you idiots out,” Lindsay replies simply. The little safety walls around the driver opens up and Ryan realises this isn’t actually a prison bus. It’s a regular bus painted extremely well. Yeah, that sounded more like Lindsay. He’s not sure Michael, or Geoff for that matter, is going to be very happy about Ray getting her involved in this. Ray peers out from the driver’s seat, waving shortly.

“Yo.”

“Uh,” Ryan begins. Before he can claim his uncertainty for the situation, he’s interrupted immediately and loudly.

“You! You fucking asshole! What was that‽” Geoff shouts angrily. Lindsay takes the key from him before he can get too worked up and lose grip of it. She assists Michael and Gavin out of their cuffs. “You got us arrested!”

“Look, it was either arrested or dead,” Ray answers plainly. “And again, you being dead is sort of counter productive to me helping you.”

“Uh,” Ryan tries again, raising a finger attentively.

“You couldn’t have warned us?” Michael snaps. “Hey, you guys are going to get arrested but it’s all part of the plan.”

“Are you fucking serious, right now?” Ray replies. Obviously he knows that wouldn’t have gone over well. He made the right choice not telling them before hand. Realistically, thinking they really were being arrested played to their favor.

“Ray,” Ryan says a little louder, cutting out Geoff and Michael’s argument. The bus jerks suddenly and everyone’s yanked sideways with the exception of Lindsay who is capable of stabilizing herself with great ease. Gavin shouts in surprise and Jack curses somewhere from the floor. Ryan grabs at the seat in front of him desperately. “I don’t suppose you ever learned how to drive, did you?”

“Nope!” Ray calls back.

“Oh Jesus Christ!” Jack yelps.

“He got us over here alright,” Lindsay assures with a minute shrug as the bus violently scraps against another car. Ryan has never felt more in danger than he feels right now, he can say that without a doubt.

“You can't stop the bus, Ryan,” Ray promises. That, unfortunately, doesn’t make anyone feel any better. There weren’t seatbelts in a bus. Jack is quick to get back to the plan, approaching Ray immediately to take over the driving.

“Is there a reason you didn’t drive?” Geoff asks, looking up at Lindsay pointedly.

“I don’t know how to drive this thing,” Lindsay answers. The difference being, of course, Lindsay actually knew how to drive period. Ray couldn't even ride a bike. The bus jerks a little, smashing into another car and throwing everyone sideways as Jack maneuvers Ray out of the driver's seat and himself into it. Ray gives him instructions on how to get to their destination before turning his attention to the rest of the bus.

"Did he give you any trouble?" Michael asks, nodding his head pointedly towards Ray. Ryan knows what he's getting at, they hadn't forgotten Ray's idle threat on her life made when he had first arrived. Though this was likely less of a threat and more of a warning of dangers not himself. Lindsay laughs.

"Oh, the pasty Puerto Rican was going to give me trouble?" she giggles. Ryan furrows his brows curiously.

"I've been bullied so hard," Ray assures them. Huh. Interesting.

"That's the Lindsay I hired," Geoff says with a more than pleased smirk and Lindsay smiles gladly. She exchanges words with Ray in spanish, something that causes both Gavin and Michael to look upon her questioningly. However, she offers no insight to her knowledge of the language, instead gesturing to Ray suggestively with one hand. Ryan finds it nothing that critically needs to be translated, just playful banter.

He feels kind of jealous actually.

"Oh, by the way," Ray says suddenly, moving toward the back of the bus. He retrieves a bowling ball bag from beneath some panels and unzips it enough to peer inside momentarily before heading back towards them. "Here Michael."

"Whoa, wait," Ryan stops this exchange at once, grabbing the bag before Michael can and quickly holding it out of reach above him. This wasn't exactly a well thought out plan on his part. "I don't think-"

Michael hits him hard in the stomach, taking the bag the moment Ryan doubles over on himself. Ryan absolutely should have seen that coming. He understands why Michael would be interested in anything Ray has for him, but this was likely not going to excite him.

It doesn't.

Michael drops the bag instantly upon opening and Gavin flings himself away in the same motion with a horrified yelp.

"What the fuck! What the fuck is this shit‽" Michael demands. Geoff pulls the bag toward him a little to peer into it and regrets this decision all at once, shoving it away from him roughly. Ray picks the bag back up, holding it sideways between both hands to show off the severed head inside.

"You don't recognize him? It's one of the guys you used to work with," Ray explains. Ryan snatches the bag away again, hurriedly zipping it back up and throwing it to the back of the bus. Ray gives him an odd look, but doesn't stop him. "Specifically, the one that called out your vicious tactics and got you fired."

"Okay," Michael stresses out. "Why the fuck did you bring me his fucking head‽"

"Because apparently he couldn't survive a shotgun blast," Ray answers nonchalantly. He takes it all in stride, like he does most things. Michael, however, is having a harder time than that. Like scolding a cat that's brought back a dead thing one too many times, Ryan thinks and then is annoyed at how good a comparison this actually is. "Otherwise I would have brought him alive."

" _Why?_ " Michael repeats, gesturing to Ray like he's about to get choked out. Ray doesn't really seem to understand the question. He shrugs animatedly.

"I thought you wanted him dead? I mean, I had to kill him anyways," Ray says.

"You could have just told me!" Michael shouts. Ray snorts.

"Yeah, you would've believed me," he replies unconvinced. Michael sits himself back down, exhaling loudly as he calms down again. Really, he was more startled than anything else when it came down to it. Receiving a gift like that from someone like Ray wasn't exactly a good omen. Gift might also be the wrong word. "You sure are acting like a little bitch about this for the kind of shit you used to pull."

"Ray," Ryan warns. Michael makes no response, effectively shutting down towards Ray completely. He wasn't going to do this.

"What?" Ray shrugs again. "I've seen his handy work. Almost as gnarly as yours. Why's he freaked out by a head?" He looks towards Lindsay for some assistance and she shrugs like she isn't sure, either.

"You're such a fucking freak, oh my god," Geoff claims plainly. Ryan gets it, he understands a lot of things Ray does, but he can't really excuse any of it. Ray is on a completely different level than they are. Ray's never had an issue with dissociating himself from other people. Though at the same time, Ryan does recall giving Ray a few 'gifts' in the past. He can't call Ray out on this.

Michael's unease is the same affliction Jack had felt. This had been a man Michael actually knew. Michael had seen him as another person and for him to suddenly be dead was startling. There was a difference though, because Michael absolutely would have killed him but it wouldn't have been without a second thought; there would have been closure. Ray couldn't understand something like that. To him, dead was dead and their lives didn't matter; like NPCs in a video game.

Ryan is afraid of thinking like that again.

"Alright, this is it, yeah?" Jack speaks as he parks the bus under a bridge. At least that ends this conversation.

"This is it," Lindsay agrees as she and Ray head for the back of the bus. The look Michael shoots Ryan while Ray's back is turned is annoyed at best. Ryan had tried to stop him from opening the bag, he had nothing to complain about.

"Here, your guy's clothes," Ray says and they pass out labeled grocery sacks of wrinkled but fortunately comfortable clothes. Ryan is simply glad to get back into his own clothes. Neither Lindsay nor Ray turn away as they change, gladly watching on with pleased little smirks. When everyone's done, Ray gestures them out of the bus and Lindsay is right on their heels.

"Michael's car is around the corner," Ray informs, pointing in its general direction.

"Hey! If you want that free food and bedding, come on down here!" Lindsay calls out to the group of people huddled under the overpass. They hurry on down to board the bus at once, homeless by the looks of it. Ryan can see them gladly helping themselves to whatever they can find on board. Someone's going to get a hell of a surprise.

"You good?" Ray asks and Lindsay gives him a thumbs up.

"I got it from here," she promises. They speak again, but this time it's in a language that Ryan is not fluent in. Lindsay and Ray exchange quick cheek kisses and then she's off with a bus full of people not them.

"Didn't she say she didn't know how to drive that thing?" Gavin points out curiously. She had said that, yes. Ryan's not shockingly worried, though. There was no way she could be any worse than Ray.

"Lindsay's smart," is all Ray says on the subject. "I already swept your apartment for bugs, so we're clear to head back-"

"You keep your fucking hands off Lindsay," Michael growls. Ray holds his hands up a little, but it's more calming than submissive.

"You need to chill. Seriously."

\- x -

“Jack thinks I should thank you,” Michael murmurs. Ray sits across the table from him, DS in hand as they exchange pokemon across the way. It’s was weird to think that they had something in common but it’s also something that he’s relieved to find out. At least there was something normal about him, right? Plus, Gavin was the only other one that played, even if he wouldn’t admit it, and he wasn’t very good.

"Are you going to do that backhanded thing Geoff does or should I just not bother?" Ray replies. It's not said with mean intentions at any rate which irks Michael to no end. They've been treating him like crap, Geoff especially, and he didn't even seem to care. Michael would feel a lot better if he just fought for himself and got it over with instead of having to wait for some big betrayal.

"Shut the fuck up. Geoff has nothing to thank you for," he scoffs sharply. Ray is uninterested in answering and Michael moves on. He grits his teeth a little as he does. "I did want him dead."

"I was right, yeah," Ray agrees. "It's a good thing, too, because I pissed some people off beheading him like that." Michael wasn't actually going to say he was right and for good fucking reason. He ignores Ray's contribution outright.

"I would've done horrible fucking things to him if I had the chance. So thanks, I guess. I'm not that person anymore; I'm not an animal," Michael murmurs. He was still so angry at the family, he's not sure he ever wouldn't be, but the kind of things he had done were not what he wanted for himself anymore. Sometimes, he understands why the family kicked him out, not that he accepts that as an excuse, and he doesn't want his family, his real family, to be afraid of him like that. Ray is silent for a moment and Michael nearly demands a response from him before thinking better of it.

"You're a monster," Ray says. He says it in the same way he could stand to look Ryan in the eye and tell him he was essentially worthless. Michael's throat is too dry to snap a reply and he hates it. "What do you care if you hurt people you don't care about?"

It was a compliment?

"What?" Michael finally says, quieter than he intended and weak.

"Basically, removing yourself from the idea that other people are important is tactically better in the long run. You had that and for some reason, Geoff got you to give that up. He sure as hell got Ryan to give it up," Ray comments. He looks over the top of his game, likely spurred by Michael being unresponsive on his end of the battle.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Michael questions briskly. Ray shrugs. If he was suggesting Michael had ever been as completely unfeeling as Ray is, he was sorely incorrect. Except, that was wrong, wasn't it? That's not what Ray is. "You don't give a damn what we think of you, do you?"

"Nah," Ray agrees. It's not that Ray was above them or below them, he was simply separate from them. Sure, he was above them too but Michael knew when someone thought they were superior and Ray wasn't that. Michael was under the assumption that Ray was radically different from him, but he feels like that is less and less the case. It wasn't like Michael gave a fuck if someone didn't like him. He didn't have time for that shit.

"You don't give a flying fuck about us at all," he continues but he knows he's wrong. Ray had shown regret for hurting Geoff, miniscule gestures like referring to them as a family now. He had won that fight, Ray had no reason to give in to Geoff's demands unless he felt guilty about it. Michael just didn't know why.

"You're important to Ryan," Ray answers. Ryan. Michael thinks he gets what Gavin was trying to tell him; what Gavin had picked up from Ryan already. With people like Michael and Geoff and Gavin, there was a line between what made them killers and what made them people. People like Ryan and Jack had more of a switch, only killers when they wanted to be.

Ray does not distinguish between the two. He is a complete being that had offered a peaceful, if not somewhat bloody, hand more than once and only decided it was futile when they withdrew from it like fire. He didn't have time for shit like that.

So why did he have time for Ryan?

"You still love Ryan, don't you?" Michael states plainly. Ray doesn't answer. He doesn't need to. They were so worried about Ray being here for revenge or to take Ryan back or _something_ but maybe he's happy just knowing Ryan's happy. Ray cares about Ryan and the four of them are part of Ryan's world so in some twisted, psychotic way: Ray cares about them too. He legitimately cares what happens to them even as they isolate him from them.

It sounds manipulative, like Ray wouldn't give a shit about them if not for Ryan and that's absolutely true, but Michael can't pretend he ever would have loved his boyfriends as much as he does if he hadn't suffered through them for Geoff. Ray is blunt and unapologetic about the way he is but maybe that's his only crime. Figuratively, of course.

"Fucking, 'here Michael' like it's a god damn courting gift or something," Michael grumbles, looking back down to his game to continue where they had left off. The corners of Ray's mouth tug into an amused smile. "Ryan's brought you a head before, hasn't he?"

"Yeah he has," Ray assures him.

"Jesus Christ. You two are fucking weird."

Michael accepts the next olive branch.

\- x -

"Have any of you seen Gavin this morning?" Jack questions, patting his beard dry gently. It's been nice getting back into their home life, definitely. So nice, in fact, they don't even mind how quiet it's been in the last few days.

"I thought he was in the shower with you?" Geoff answers, rolling his head to look at Jack. Jack shakes his head. Ryan had figured that’s where he’d gone as well. Not that it’s particularly odd for any of them to take a short absence. It could be difficult keeping track of everyone sometimes with their piss poor communication.

"No," Jack assures simply.

"Didn't he go down to check on Ray?" Michael asks, adjusting slightly at Ryan's side to look over the back of the couch. Now that Jack has mentioned it, Gavin has been gone a long time then. Ryan gets a sickly feeling in his gut that he tries to push away. Dreams are just dreams. Even so, he wraps his arm around Michael a little tighter.

"What part of dangerous psychopath don't you guys understand?" Geoff says plainly. Before anyone can decide to go check on him, Gavin appears in the doorway on cue. He's incredibly interested in the envelope in his hands, nearly tripping down the stairs because of it. At least he’s alright.

"Gavin?" Jack murmurs. Gavin looks up, his expression unusually neutral.

"Ray wasn't there," he says. That's not shockingly odd. Ray has his own things to deal with and has no reason to explain himself to them.

"You know, I don't think I've seen him in a few days, actually," Jack muses after a moment of thought. Ryan considers it for a moment before realising Jack is right; he hasn't seen Ray in about three days now. Slightely more odd.

"Me either," Michael agrees. They all turn to Ryan for an answer he doesn't have. Ray certainly hadn't said anything to him. Ryan shrugs softly, making a vague hand motion of 'iunno'.

"Ray likes to be alone sometimes," he explains. It's the only thing he can think of, though he's not sure why Ray wouldn't be in his apartment now if that was the case. "Three days does seem a little long. Maybe he's giving us space?"

"Or maybe he finally fucking high tailed it out of here to let us defend ourselves," Geoff grumbles.

"All his stuff is still there," Gavin says. "Games and everything." Then Ray was certainly coming back. Ryan's surprised he didn't take them with him on his little mini vacation.

"Should we be worried?" Jack asks. Ryan doesn't think so. This is Ray they're talking about. Gavin holds up the envelope he's holding.

"I did find this," he adds on.

"Don't you think you should have mentioned that earlier, you fucking idiot," Michael snaps.

"Well what's it say? We're really all just dying to know," Geoff insists sarcastically.

"Don't know," Gavin admits. "I was afraid to open it."

"Oh what, out of all the ways he could kill you he's going to leave an envelope of fucking anthrax or something?" Geoff scoffs. Ryan holds out a hand over the back of the couch and Gavin hands it over.

"It's addressed to Geoff," Gavin murmurs. Again, something that would have been nice to know sooner.

"A, if Ray wanted to poison you, he would have poisoned the envelope itself and you would already be dead," Ryan assures as he holds it up to the light. Michael squints at it with him. "B, this isn't Ray's handwriting."

"Is that a playing card?" Jack questions. Ryan goes ahead and opens the envelope, cautiously peering in before withdrawing the piece of cardstock. It's shaped like a playing card, that's for sure, however it's easily the weirdest heart suit he's ever seen.

"What the hell is that?" Michael grumbles.

"Geoff," Jack whispers. It gets Geoff's attention instantly. Ryan glances over his shoulder momentarily before turning back on Geoff. He flicks the card around for Geoff to see.

"Son of a bitch," Geoff sighs heavily.

"They're dead," Jack says firmly.

"Who's dead?" Gavin demands, concern quickly stemming from Jack's reaction. None of this sounds good. Geoff shakes his head like it's no big deal, turning back to the television.

"It's nothing," he murmurs.

"It's not," Jack assures him sharply. Geoff pulls a face, silently mocking Jack before turning to them again. He would be taking this more seriously if one of them had gone missing.

"They're some idiot rival gang from back when Griffon and I were running together," Geoff explains blandly. "A moron with god complex. Made some enemies, had some fights, Griffon took a chainsaw to him. End of story."

"It was a lot more than that," Jack promises. "These guys were determined. Even after their leader was dead, they came after us hard."

"They evaporated," Geoff scoffs.

"Cut off one head and two more sprout in its place," Ryan mumbles, flickering the card around his fingers.

"Are you saying Ray got himself kidnapped?" Michael asks. Jack looks worried and Ryan is sure it's warranted. Again though: Ray. There's no way he got kidnapped unless he wanted to be.

"Give it a week," Geoff says. "He'll probably be back."

"He'll be dead by then, Geoff!" Gavin yelps. "If they give him to Republica, he won't have a chance!"

"Yeah, or he's fucking massacring everyone with paper clips or something," Geoff argues.

"These guys were brutal, too," Jack says. "If these are the same people, I think we need to get them out of here regardless."

"Paper clips," Geoff repeats.

"Ray can handle himself pretty well," Ryan insists with an arch of a brow. "I have to agree with Geoff, give him some time. If he needs help, we'll know." That being said, he has to ignore the worried pull on his stomach. He has noticed Ray's decline in mood ever since he got here and with it, his lack of energy and decrease of coordination.

Still, if Ray had gone quietly, which Ryan is assuming he had considering they hadn’t noticed he was gone for three days, then he likely was handling this himself. He obviously didn't want or need their help or he would have said something.

Ryan wish he were wrong.

It's likely that these people expected them to notice Ray's absence much sooner and because they hadn't, it was probably assumed that they either didn't care about Ray's well being or weren't worried. That's not exactly wrong, to be honest. Regardless, it speeds up the waiting just a little.

They get a tape in the mail the same day. Ryan briefly considers chasing down the mailman but ultimately decides that would be fruitless and a waste of his time.

"Well Ryan?" Geoff asks pointedly as they all stare on. Ryan is both surprised and not that they expect him to work with this.

"What? Me? I'm not a miracle worker, Geoff," Ryan replies, handing the vhs tape back to his boss.

"You're the tech guy," Geoff insists, pushing the tape back on Ryan just as quick as Ryan pushes it on him.

"You're calling this tech?" Ryan scoffs. "This thing's ancient, why would I have anything to play it? I could play a floppy disk before I could play this." Like he kept a VCR around just for the kicks of it. He didn't even know they still made these things.

"Lindsay says she'll bring something," Michael cuts in, pocketing his cellphone as he finishes his texting. The vhs tape is only labeled with Geoff's name in white marker. It's odd to Ryan. If this was about Republica, they probably wouldn't be targeting Geoff but if it was about Geoff, they wouldn't be targeting Ray. He guesses the tape will clear some things up.

"What do you think's on it?" Gavin murmurs as they wait. Ryan could think of various things ranging from unpleasant to idiotic, but he can't say for sure.

"Hopefully an uncut version of Space Jam," Geoff says. No one finds it funny. Ryan might not be worried, but Geoff just all around doesn't care. Not that he should, Ryan supposes. Geoff rolls his eyes at the somber silence he's met with. "If anything, it's ten minutes of the Insurrection punching Ray and Ray telling them about themselves. That's what he did when we caught him."

“I hope he’s okay,” Jack sighs absently. Ryan is regretful that once again, Ray’s well being isn’t exactly his first priority. He does hope Ray is safe, of course, but a large portion of that is because Ryan knows he needs Ray’s help to keep Republica at bay. If Ray is down for the count, they’re screwed.

Lindsay comes and goes in the same moment, dropping off the heavy artifact and assuring them that she has some ‘guests’ that she needs to tend to as she leaves again. When the timing is better, Ryan hopes to have a chat with her but for now he is more interested in playing this tape.

He should have known better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one kind of got away from me and so did the next, so perhaps some 8k chapters in the future. thank you for your continued support! we're about midway through so far so stay tuned for kidnapped rays and then immediately unkidnapped rays. we don't got time for that.


	7. Back and Forth Through My Mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings; fairly graphic torture [branding, cutting]

Ryan feels like he's dreaming.

There's no prelude, no adjusting, just the horrid, broken cry of pain. Ray's chained off the floor, dangling by his wrist and his shoulders that have undoubtedly been dislocated again. It's a weakness they would have seen and exposed instantly. He's already bruised something awful, a large portion of his skin dark purple and patched from dozens of fists and marks like they've come from lead pipes. The video opens up on a man, back facing the camera, slicing Ray's hip clean down to the bone and eliciting a pained shout from his split lips.

Ryan finds himself dizzy, but he can't really determine why. He controls himself. Blood runs down Ray's leg in gushes, coating his skin and pooling below him. Someone laughs as Ray sobs. This is something Ryan would have bet money on, he's not sure why he's surprised. He's not sure why he was hoping for anything else. Despite everything, he doesn't shake, doesn't move, only stands like a stone pillar. He can feel those instincts gripping him all over again; show them nothing.

 _"Looks like I have something of yours, Geoffers,"_ a voice speaks over the strangled noises Ray makes. It's not a voice Ryan's heard before, but it's one he will remember until it's eliminated. Geoff doesn't say anything and no one else does, either. The voice, a different man who won't show his face, stands near Ray with a bent steel rod in one hand and a torch in the other, whistling as he heats it.

Ryan can feel the tension in the air, his boyfriends waiting on baited breath of whether he's really going to do it. Of course he's going to fucking do it. Ray screams when the hot metal touches the skin of his belly. He trashes violently but fruitlessly, having no where to go in his current position. His skin sticks to the crudely made brand, literally melting under the harsh heat.

Gavin makes a mad dash out of the room, his gag reflex likely set off by the show. The voice laughs as he sticks Ray with it again and again, leaving a series of brands across Ray's side, illegible and painful. When he stops, Ray gasps out for air, choking down sounds as he tries to breathe.

 _"You want him back, don't you Geoffers?"_  the voice insists. One of the other figures drops Ray to the ground and he falls hard without the ability to catch himself. His face smacks against the rough concrete with a sickening noise and he shakes violently as he tries to curl up on himself. The voice grabs the back of his head, jerking him across the floor a little and forcing him to look up. _"Beg him to come get you. Let him hear you, now."_

 _"Please,"_  Ray sobs. _"Please help me, Geoff. Please don't leave me here."_  Ryan's heart lurches and his clutch on the remote tightens until he hears it crack. The voice drops Ray's head unceremoniously and Ray whimpers despairingly.

 _"Come alone and I'll let him go, Geoffers,"_  the voice assures. He pushes Ray over with his foot, peering down on the broken and blood soaked body fondly. He delivers a hard stomp to Ray's chest, the sound of cracking bones echoing over the recording. _"Bring your little buddy, dead, and maybe I'll even consider letting him go alive."_

"Turn it off," Jack whispers. Ryan doesn't respond and doesn't turn it off. The video goes on for a little longer, Ray trembling and sobbing on the floor in his own blood as he pleads quietly for someone to help him. When it ends, the vcr whirling to a stop, Ryan rewinds it to the very beginning.

"Jesus Ryan! Turn it off!" Michael shouts at him. Ryan, again, ignores it. He just stares at the television, watching the video over again. It wasn't him; the voice wasn't referring to Ryan when he said 'buddy'. This wasn't about Republica at all. Any of them could have legitimately been in Ray's place and it's terrifying.

"What do we do?" Gavin murmurs softly, obviously having gotten control of himself again if just barely. Ryan's not sure when he had returned. He hadn't been paying attention.

"Do?" Ryan echos curiously. Surely they didn't think they were actually going to do something. That was inane. He doesn't take his eyes away from the screen, too engrossed to even dare. "We don't do anything."

"Ryan," Jack says and he sounds disappointed almost or maybe confused. Ryan is unable to tell at the moment, honestly. "We can't leave him there."

"Republica doesn't negotiate," Ryan replies. He would think that was obvious. Very few good organizations negotiated and Republica was incredibly good. It wasn't a question. If Ray had wanted their help, they would know.

"We're not Republica," Geoff snaps. It's enough to make Ryan glance away from the television. He raises a brow curiously at Geoff but returns his gaze back to the screen shortly.

"Would you really trade Jack for Ray, anyways?" Ryan muses.

"Me?" Jack swallows. Geoff, however, seems to already know this. The answer is, of course, no he wouldn't.

"Not Griffon," Ryan assures. "They would target her separately. I reckon they wouldn't try to fight her and Geoff at the same time. Plus, they'd never involve each other. You said 'us' didn't you? 'They came at _us_  hard'."

"Ray needs our help, Ryan!" Gavin shouts. He's upset. Ryan wonders if it's him Gavin's upset with and then wonders if it even matters. Getting angry wouldn't help Ray. Granted, staying calm also wouldn't help, so he supposes it really doesn't matter.

"Ray's faking," Ryan says simply.

"That blood sure as hell didn't look fake!" Michael snaps. Ryan rewinds a section of the tape, watching Ray get branded the first time once again and the curdling scream that goes with it. This time, no one really looks except Ryan; Gavin covering his eyes, Jack turning his back, and Michael and Geoff casting their gazes.

"It's a psychological tactic," Ryan explains. "Ray screams because he wants them to know he's human; that at their very cores, they are the same. He wants them to know they'll never be the same after doing this to him." Ryan pauses the tape, approaching the screen to point at one of the figures in the foreground.

"Look," he says. "Look at him squirm. Nervous gait, uncomfortable stance, difficulty staying still. He'll never be able to look at himself again and Ray didn't even speak to him."

"They're torturing him," Geoff growls. Ryan figured that was already obviously.

"Yes?" he agrees blindly. "And it's not working." Ray shut down completely when he felt threatened or, worse still, near death. If they were really getting to him, Ray would have been in a catatonic state already. That would have been the sign that he needed help. He was playing them. Ryan doesn't think Ray understands that this little show he's putting on is a double edged sword.

"What is your fucking damage, Ryan?" Michael growls at him. Ryan doesn't think he's the one acting strange here. They couldn't help Ray; they didn't even know if Ray wanted help. There was no point in getting worked up over it.

"It could have been you," Ryan sighs as Ray begs for Geoff to help him again. Surprisingly, Geoff is the first to leave. He exits the room quietly, but angrily, storming down the stairs to their bedroom. Since when did Geoff care what happened to Ray? "Or Gavin or Jack or me."

"But it wasn't! It's Ray!" Gavin squawks.

"Why?" Ryan questions. "If the Insurrection is targeting Geoff, why take Ray? If Ray was really in trouble, why beg for Geoff? Geoff can't help him."

"Is this a jealousy thing?" Michael demands.

"No," Ryan says. "You missed the point. Ray convinced them Geoff cares about him so they wouldn't come after us instead. He's trying to help, so let him. And if he dies-"

"He's not going to," Jack interrupts firmly. Ryan hopes he's right but he also knows not to hope at all. Ray is strong and skilled enough to make it out alive, but a person can't plan for everything. Things go wrong. These people weren’t exactly skilled at what they did, clearly. A single stray cut would leave Ray to bleed out helplessly.

"And if he dies," Ryan repeats. "We can move in and take them out."

"Why don't we do that now?" Gavin insists. He doesn't really understand. He's been on the 'good' side most his life where everything goes as planned or someone convinces him it's not his fault. Then he was on Geoff's side where deals were fair and conclusive. This wasn't that. This was purely nonsense made to torture Geoff. Ryan knows because he used to be the best at stuff like this. He doesn't bother with an answer.

Michael hits him hard. It catches Ryan off guard and he loses his footing, being forced to the ground by the blow. He doesn't retaliate, doesn’t protect himself, instead simply rubbing his struck cheek with the back of his hand distantly. Honestly, he's not that surprised. He glances up at Michael without expression, waiting for something further.

"If he's helping us, all the more reason to help him," Michael barks. That's kind of dumb. Ryan picks himself up, brushing his jeans off and scooping up the remote again. "We're not going to leave him there."

"Ray said he was here to help us," Ryan answers. "And Geoff accepted his help. Helping him in return was never part of the deal. Whyever Ray's doing this, it's for his own reasons. We owe him nothing." Michael hits him again, but this time Ryan's expecting it. He keeps his footing, only accepting the blow without flinching.

"Is this what you were like before?" Michael snarls. Ryan looks at him coldly.

"Michael," he says firmly. "If I thought I could help Ray, I would. I've seen him like this more times than I can count. The fact of the matter is, there is nothing I wouldn't do to keep you safe; all of you safe." He looks pointedly at Gavin and then Jack before facing Michael down again with unmoved features and unexposed nerves. If he showed regret, alarm, concern- anything, the situation would only get worse.

"If that means leaving Ray to die, then fine. If we move, they'll kill him and put everyone else needlessly at risk," Ryan exhales carefully, turning back to the tv. This wasn't an uncaring demeanor; it was a cold calculation. He wasn't any happier about this than anyone else.

"This was what you were like," Michael nods knowingly, backing away from Ryan a little. He's wrong. Ryan used to be so much scarier than this. "You know, I think Ray pulls this off a lot better than you do."

"Gavin," Jack says quietly, motioning for Gavin to come to him. The look Gavin gives Ryan as he moves to Jack’s side is harrowing at best. Michael follows them down the stairs to the bedroom, joining Geoff where he had retreated to. Ryan stays behind. They don't want him at the moment; he doesn't blame them. He'd let Ray die if he had to but they don't understand right now, he'd never be the same if that happened. That couldn't happen.

Ryan watches the tape again. If he watches it enough, he could find the flaws; he could recalculate. Maybe he was wrong and Ray was asking for help. It was different if he legitimately needed help, then they wouldn't be ruining whatever plan he hadn't told them about. Sure, even then Ryan would be reluctant to assist him, but he’s not sure he’d be able to ignore a plea of help from Ray. Ryan wishes he could be upset with Ray for not sharing his plan, but Ryan understands.

Ray doesn't trust them. He doesn't trust Ryan especially; not anymore. He'll do everything alone until he literally gets himself killed because he thinks they'll get him killed sooner. He's probably right. Ryan could almost laugh at the number of times his crew has nearly gotten him killed over the years. A lot of it was just over ridiculously dumb shit, too; rolling live grenades under the car, jumping out of helicopters without parachutes, trying to board a train from a fucking plane, the poorly planned heists, ec cetera.

Ryan rubs his chest softly, fingers brushing over the faint scars that indent his skin. He's glad that they've accepted Ray to some degree, he really is, and he's glad they are willing to help him, but he's not excited for what comes next. He's not excited to let them see Ray, or himself for that matter, in the raw. Not even Geoff had seen him like that. Ryan had already long been broken and guarded when Geoff found him.

He's afraid, really, he can admit to that. He's afraid that they'll be afraid.

Before Ryan knows it, it's the early hours of the morning. He hasn't slept and knows he wouldn't have been able to, anyways. Jack touches his shoulder gently in the dark, squeezing him warmly. As much as he’d like to believe it, Ryan doesn’t think Jack understands or accepts his decisions anymore than the rest of them do.

"Come on," Jack insists, urging Ryan off of the couch and preferably to bed.

"No," Ryan refuses placidly. He doesn't explain himself. There's not a point, is there? Jack sighs, shuffling around the couch to physically remove the tape from the vcr. Uncontrollable dread sinks into Ryan instantly and harshly he bites out, "Jack."

Jack looks at him for a moment, sad concern painted into his eyes, but he doesn't say anything. He takes the tape and heads back to the bedroom without a sound. Ryan shakes himself. There was nothing on that tape he hadn't already seen. He’s being unreasonable, he tries to convince himself.

Ryan remains in the living room even then, sitting calmly and quietly as he peers out over the dark city. He can still hear Ray's cries in his head. The more he thinks about it, the more he wonders if Ray really is acting or if he'd ever been acting. Ryan finds it hard to believe he wouldn't be in pain but at the same time, he's witnessed Ray suffer through some horrible things without so much as a flinch.

Could he really have trained himself so well to block out pain like that? Even Ryan had a limit. Maybe he just let go and his tactic worked so well because it's real, horrifying pain. The thought makes Ryan sick to his stomach. Things were so much simpler back in Republica; back when he was numb. He had never scrutinized Ray’s tactics closely before. Considering it now, it’s sort of frightening, like he hadn’t been human enough to recognize Ray’s pain.

"Have you been up all night, Ryan?" Gavin asks quietly, sitting himself beside Ryan and wrapping his arms tightly around Ryan's chest. Ryan hadn't realised it was morning already. He can hear the others rustling about quietly in the background, still upset with him. It's better that they are because he's not upset with himself. Hard choices had to be made.

"Yeah," he admits. "I couldn't sleep." Sleep seems like a thing of the past now, something he only distantly remembers being able to do properly.

"Did you even try?" Gavin asks pointedly. Ryan glances down at him, smiling faintly.

"No," he laughs. "Not really." Sleep sounded so unnatural right now. Ryan wraps his arms around Gavin, pulling the lad into his lap and hugging him fondly. With his nose pressed against Gavin's neck, he breaths in his scent warmly and Gavin cards his fingers through Ryan's hair. It soothes Ryan just a little; just enough.

"I'm sorry," Ryan whispers.

"You dope, we just want to help," Gavin murmurs. He knows. Ryan shakes his head a little, gripping Gavin a little tighter and then significantly lighter.

"You can't," Ryan replies. "Ray will eat you alive."

"He won't," Gavin snorts humorously. Ryan pulls away a little, looking over Gavin's face with disapproval. "Like he said, we're here to take care of you, not the other way around. What if Ray is eating you alive and he doesn't even know it?"

"He would," Ryan insists. Gavin bumps his forehead against Ryan's softly.

"He doesn't," Gavin repeats. "I see what you're damn doing, Ryan. You know Ray doesn't know why you bloody tried to shoot him, right?" Ryan swallows.

"I suspected," he murmurs. He hadn't known for sure, though. Even now, there's no way to be certain. Ray never let on.

"This is that all over again. Ray's just doing what he does naturally, I guess. Or what he was trained to do or whatever. He hasn't any clue you're seeing his intentions so cruel," Gavin explains. Ryan's not so sure about that. Gavin doesn't know Ray like he does. Then again, maybe Ryan doesn't know Ray like he think he does, either.

"Michael thinks he just wants to see you happy," Gavin says. "He really loved you, Ryan."

"Stop," Ryan croaks out, squeezing Gavin against him like a plush toy. His dream seems so real all of a sudden and he hates it. "Stop it, Gavin."

"Don't cry, you spaff," Gavin scolds playfully but he hugs Ryan tightly, comforting him to the best of his ability. "Ray's not in Republica anymore, either, you know." Ryan doesn't say anything more. He doesn't have anything to say. This is what he was now; this is what made him better. They made him better. He grips a handful of Gavin's shirt, rolling his head minutely against the lad's neck.

"You're welcome," Gavin huffs teasingly.

"Thank you," Ryan replies softly. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, shush up already."

\- x -

Geoff flickers the photo between his fingers idly. It was sickening what they were doing to Ray and this taunting bullshit they kept sending was really starting to piss him off. Ray had to have known what they would do to him when he got himself kidnapped. Furthermore, he had to know how much worse it was going to be when he convinced them he was important to Geoff. This wasn't some plan Ray had winged last minute.

What makes him more upset is that Ryan is right, it could have been any of them. Geoff isn't sure they could have stood up to this like Ray is. Four days of them brutally torturing him and yet he remained alive and aware of all things. Those were eyes that knew exactly what was happening. God, that had to be even worse.

Of course they were going to fucking save him. Geoff didn't have to like him to not be okay with leaving him there. He would have to be- well he'd have to be like Ray to do something like that. Above all else, Geoff owes him this. Geoff would have never been able to take seeing one of his boyfriends in that position. Worse still, if they had grabbed Jack, they wouldn't have hesitated to outright slaughter him.

Ray had made the right choice to go to them before they came here. Not the smartest choice, but the right one. Now Geoff just had to get him out of there alive and preferably in one piece. It might be a little late for that second part.

Geoff looks up when Ryan exits the bathroom, dripping from his shower and looking somewhat refreshed from a long, sleepless night. He stops, watching Geoff silently for a few seconds before averting his eyes to the paper between Geoff's fingers. There's not much for him to say; Geoff isn't accepting apologies right now and Ryan knows it.

With a slight movement, Geoff flicks the photo around to show Ryan. He sees the line of Ryan's jaw stiffen under his clenched teeth. Ryan couldn't pretend this didn't bother him for long. He takes the picture from Geoff, looking at it a little closer, dissecting it.

"Are you ready to put a fucking cork in it and help him?" Geoff demands. Ryan exhales sharply. He rips the photo in two and proceeds to shred it into smaller pieces. Geoff stands, toe to toe with Ryan's pillar like form. He understands that Ryan has experience with things like that and that, sure, maybe he was better suited to make a call on it, but that wasn’t how they did things around here. "How long do you think you can leave him there? I don't care who the fuck he is, he's not going to last."

"Okay," Ryan says stiffly. Geoff hadn't entirely expected Ryan to agree with him. In fact, he'd been planning on going ahead without him from the beginning. He still thinks maybe that would be the better idea. "I fucking get it, Geoff."

"About damn time," Geoff scoffs. He brushes past Ryan roughly, nerves still a little frayed between them. Geoff will forgive him in time. He knows how Ryan works enough to understand that Ryan’s going to berate himself far more than they ever could.

"Geoff," Ryan says. Geoff glances back at him, Ryan staring down at the pieces of torn photo in his fingers. He looks to Geoff coldly. "I have to tell you something."

"Well fucking tell me," Geoff snaps. He doesn't want to hear it. He knows he doesn't. This is the part where Ryan comes clean about still loving Ray and Geoff has to decide if he still wants to save him. That's not what he wants but he prepares himself for it anyways. He couldn’t leave Ray there; regardless.

"If I get my hands on this guy," Ryan speaks without waver and without guilt. "I will do things to him that will make you look at me different." This is not what Geoff expected. He searches Ryan's face steadily but there is nothing to find. Geoff huffs bluntly, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turns to leave the room. Another time then.

"I won't let you do that, buddy," he murmurs. That's all Ryan needs to hear. "Get dressed. We're leaving." Geoff doesn't hear a reply. He heads up into the living room, everyone else already preparing. This wasn't like their usual jobs and it certainly wasn't like their heists. They couldn't screw this up.

"Is he coming?" Gavin asks.

"Yeah," Geoff assures. "He's coming." Gavin lets out a little relieved sigh. Admittedly, it might have been a little scary doing this without Ryan. Not so much because they couldn't, but because they'd all rather be together for this. There's no telling what would happen in there. Granted, Geoff’s sure they’ve gone in more dangerous places before.

"I don't know how bad a condition Ray's in," Jack says. "I don't know if he'll be able to fight or even walk once we get to him."

"That building's gonna be empty by the time we get to him," Geoff promises. "He shouldn't need to."

"Hopefully. The sooner we get him back to the van, the better. I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to do for him, either, though," Jack admits. Geoff knew that a lot better than Jack did. He’s seen what sort of state Ray is in and Jack’s piddly little ‘clean and bandage’ might not cut it this time.

"We'll take him to a hospital if we need to," Geoff says simply. Jack sighs but nods all the same. If Ray had to go to a hospital, at least he and someone else were going to be placed in police custody. Again. This time, it might not be so easy to get away. Geoff knows that.

"Lindsay and Steffie are on backup," Michael informs. "Lindsay says she'll do what she can to keep the area clear and stop any signals from broadcasting in or out."

"Is there a lot of noise?" Geoff questions. Michael shakes his head.

"Nah. These assholes have the communication skills of a rock. They won't notice any radio silence unless we're really unlucky," Michael assures. Man, Geoff loved working off their luck. They were so fucking lucky with a side of sarcasm.

"Cameras?" Geoff prompts.

"These guys sent us a fucking vhs tape. There ain't shit in there camera wise," Michael scoffs. At least that was in their favor. It made the stealth part of this a hell of a lot easier.

"There aren't any building schematics, but it looks pretty straight forward; twenty floors straight up, mostly open office space," Gavin explains. "Elevator's out and there’s not a stair shaft, so stairs don't go directly up. We'll have to go through each floor but at least they can't come up behind us."

"We want everyone in that building dead, so that's good for us," Geoff agrees. The Insurrection had always been brutal but not shockingly smart. They made the mistake of fucking with Geoff again, didn't they? They wouldn't get the chance to make the mistake of fucking with Griffon again.

"I couldn't find any numbers on them, either," Gavin murmurs with an annoyed huff. "I don't know how many are in there."

"Eighty two," Ryan interrupts. Geoff peers over his shoulder as Ryan joins them a bit sheepishly. "They really shouldn't have recorded Ray."

"Are you sure?" Geoff asks. Ryan shrugs a little.

"Reasonable room for error. Ray's never been more than a few off before. They're also under armed. Ammu-Nation is still on tight watch, so I'm not surprised," he says simply. It's good to see him somewhat back to normal. Anything was better than how he was last night.

"Ray was planning on us coming?" Jack questions.

"Eventually," Ryan assures. "He probably figured you'd want to wipe them out regardless of whether he's there or not." Even Ray hadn't planned this with his safety guaranteed. If that wasn’t scary, Geoff’s not sure what was. There was something eerie about a person so comfortable with their own demise that they could accept it as a reasonable solution.

"Alright, this is good," Geoff compliments. "Remember this is a stealth mission. If for a second they think we're there, they'll kill Ray and we have no idea if Ray's in any position to defend himself or help us."

"Not to mention, we'd be lucky if they killed us on sight. If they get a hold of us, we're in as good of a position as Ray," Jack adds on. These were the kind of people that would definitely want to play before they killed. They couldn't be given that chance.

"Don't get caught, don't get shot, don't get seen. Easy," Michael says sarcastically. This was a fucking suicide mission. So basically pretty much just like their usual jobs. Yeah, they'd be fine.

"Exactly," Geoff grins. "Let's go. I want this over with before some different set of assholes ambush us."

The first rule of kidnapping, never give away your location. It was such an amature move made in complete confidence. These idiots didn't know what they were dealing with. Geoff doesn't think this is the same group of people he's had trouble with before but some poorly constructed attempt at reforming the Insurrection. Maybe some idiot left over from the original gang is trying to build them back up or something. They needed to be stomped out before they became any more of a problem.

Jack parks the plain van two blocks away, completely out of sight but hopefully close enough for a quick escape. Suspicious vehicles wouldn't play in their favor. Michael and Ryan take the front line, heading forward under cover and any blind spots in the building. Geoff and Gavin are close behind, careful to not move too quickly or too slow. No one should be looking for them but any suspicious movement could alert the entire building. Jack brings up the rear, watching their backs as he moves.

They split up immediately, Michael and Ryan taking to the left with Geoff and Gavin to the right. Jack holds down the door. No outside patrols; good. Also suspicious, but now's not the time. Geoff helps Gavin through a busted window and awaits to hear that it's clear before climbing in after him.

"Two on this floor," Ryan whispers over mic. "Close together."

"Take them out," Geoff instructs. Gavin keeps his head down as he peers around cautiously. From here, the two Ryan mentioned weren't visible and therefore, there could be men on this side not visible from the other.

"Done," Michael informs.

"Sweep," Geoff commands. Gavin moves away from him, moving swiftly but quietly to search out any further activity. Geoff finds none on his end and soon after hears four affirming 'clear's. They rejoin at the door to the stairs. Geoff moves in first and Ryan's on his heels.

This floor is slightly more active, several people visible right off the bat. Geoff gestures Ryan in the opposite direction to cover. Carefully and individually, they guide the others up and spread them out strategically in the mess of abandoned desks, boxes, and crates. Second rule of kidnapping, never leave cover.

"Ready?" Geoff preps. Sometimes he's amazed at what they can do when it really matters. He awaits everyone's confirmation patiently. Moving targets weren't always easy.

"Go." They take out the grunts simultaneously, clearing the floor in a single, well planned execution. Geoff really hoped everything went this smoothly. A quick sweep of the floor is made just to assure it's clean before they move onto the next stair set.

"Gavin, hold this floor," Geoff instructs.

"No problem," Gavin agrees. There's a time and place to butt heads with Geoff and it's not here. Right now, Geoff had complete control of his otherwise unruly crew. He was top dog for a reason and that reason was a hell of a lot more than just being the founder.

The next three floors clear out easy. It's Michael that stops them on the next flight of stairs. He holds carefully and the others stop behind him automatically.

"Trip wire," he murmurs.

"Were they expecting us?" Jack questions as Ryan deals with the issue easily. He knew enough tricks to deal with shoddy work like this, no problem.

"Not incendiary," Ryan assures. Geoff works his teeth a little. This wasn't right. These guys shouldn’t have trip wires like this set up. They’d have to watch themselves.

"I don't know. Let's move," he says, guiding them onward. It's probably nothing but Geoff knows better than to assume something like that. Even if they are expected, as long as they don't trip anything, they'll be fine.

Geoff instructs Gavin to move up every couple floors, keeping him posted a safe distance on their tails. If someone did come up on them, Gavin would be able to alert them and then escape easily. As they climb further and further up, Ryan gets more anxious. Geoff can feel it on him and it's not great. However, he knows he can trust Ryan to keep his cool.

"Gavin," Geoff murmurs sharply as they hit the fifteenth floor's stairs.

"What? What happened?" Gavin squeaks back.

"I thought you said it was straight up?" he snaps, staring down the split path. Right down the middle of the building is an enclosed garden, overgrown and untamed. The rest of the floors wrap in two around it. Fairly, there's no way any of them had seen this from the outside. Geoff’s quite sure none of the other buildings around here have gardens like this.

"The building only goes up," Gavin insists. Geoff pulls them back a bit to re-coordinate. Most of them would be fine if they split up. Time wasn't exactly on their side, either, as it wouldn't be long before someone discovered something was up. Jack and Michael look to him for a decision, Ryan watching the stairs.

"Jack, you and Ryan take the left. You watch him," Geoff instructs firmly. Ryan looks back at him momentarily as Jack nods. Of course, Jack didn't really need to be told that. They could tell when something was wrong and there was definitely something wrong with Ryan. "Michael, you're with me. Gavin, move to this floor. Be ready to help whoever finds Ray first. Let's go."

Ryan and Jack break to the left while Geoff follows Michael to the right. This sicko was right handed, surely he'd choose the right wing. For a precious moment, Geoff thinks he's right. The underlings are thick on their portion of the floors making it difficult for he and Michael alone to execute them silently and simultaneously.

However, Ryan and Jack blow through their floors faster. Geoff knows exactly where the plan starts to fall apart. He knew instinctively that he had never needed to worry why things were so easy. They might as well have been a special ops team taking out a high school bully. He should have left Ryan at home.

"Ryan," Jack hisses over com. "God dammit, Ryan. Where the hell did you go?"

"I told you to watch him, Jack," Geoff snaps, ready to retreat back on an instant. He steels himself, though, remaining as calm as he can handle.

"You watch Ryan and tell me how easy it is," Jack answers sharply. Geoff didn't want sass! "I don't know where he could have gone."

"Gavin," Geoff commands. "Help Jack. Find Ryan _yesterday_."

"On it," Gavin yelps. Geoff motions Michael onward to quickly finish their floors. None of these guys were leaving this building, Geoff wouldn't let them. He wasn’t about to see this mission fail just because they left a few guys to tip them off, either.

"I found Ray," Ryan comments suddenly, voice flat.

"Where the fuck are you, Ryan?" Jack demands. There's no immediate answer. Michael rushes to finish and Geoff's right at his side. Stealth had all but gone out the window.

"Garden," Ryan finally speaks. Geoff stops. He hurries toward the closest window, looking out into the mass of green that had flourished in abandonment. In order to see properly, he has to yank the vines away, throwing them aside harshly.

"We're clear, Geoff," Michael calls to him.

"Where in the garden, Ryan?" Geoff shouts. Ryan's mic cuts out. In his anger, Geoff nearly throws his. He can't believe this, but he knows he should. He knows how strong the desire for revenge could be. He knows how much Ryan still longs for Ray. "I'm going to kill him! Find them!"

"I think I found it!" Gavin says immediately. "Second floor from the top, it's like a walkway or something." Geoff darts back to the stairs to the floor below. He directs Michael to check the far end while he searches the wall closest to him.

It's so well blended into the setting that Geoff nearly misses it. He yanks the plastic pane out and away from the vines hugging onto it desperately. The lifted pathway leads into the thick of the overgrown garden, completely covered in plants to the point where it's nearly untreadable and hardly visible.

"Michael!" Geoff calls him over at once, already beginning to make his way through the mess. There's a yell that makes him move faster. It's clear people have walked it recently, making it easier to maneuver through but just barely. In the midst of the jungle, there is a little section of four offices with an outside wall of thick glass that vines cling to. It's in front of one of these offices that Ryan sits.

"Ryan," Jack says, arriving upon him about the same time Geoff does. Ryan sighs heavily, glancing up between them. It's not sorrow though. Geoff doesn't understand.

"Is he-?" Gavin swallows, gesturing toward the door. Ryan picks himself up and for now, Geoff can forget about strangling him.

"I wouldn't go in there," Ryan assures as Gavin reaches for the door. Gavin doesn't need to be told twice and reels back instantly.

"What the fuck happened?" Michael roars.

"Is Ray still in there?" Jack persuades.

"Ray's fine," Ryan promises. "Well, he's alive at any rate. He looks pretty awful, obviously."

"What happened to their leader?" Geoff asks. Ryan looks at him somewhat passively. He hadn't done anything, surely, otherwise he wouldn't be sitting out here.

"Ray's getting even," Ryan says. That was terrifying for so many reasons. Hadn't Ryan said Ray wasn't that kind of cruel; that he didn't do stuff like that? Geoff knows right now that Ray isn't in there just getting it over with, either. This guy deserved everything Ray gave to him, of course he did, but that wasn't the issue.

When the door opens, everyone backs away from it like it was on fire. No one really expected anyone but Ray to come out, though, and they're right. Ray closes the door behind him slowly, limping a bit as he repositions himself against the wall. He wears only Ryan's leather jacket and a pair of torn pants that don't fit him quite right. Ryan had freed him and then hadn't stopped him. Was that really any better? Ryan had been in a position to kill the man long before Ray ever got to him.

"Well, I did have a plan," Ray says slowly. "But your plan was a lot better. Thanks." He seems stiff and unlife like, like a manikin painted a little too well. Jack is the first to move and Geoff feels the overwhelming desire to yank him away.

Ray isn't sure how to react to the hug, limping immediately like a ragdoll under Jack's grip. Why Jack thought that would be a good idea is beyond Geoff. Aggression breaks through soon after, Ray shoving Jack somewhat weakly.

"Get off me!" he shouts but it sounds broken. Jack lets him go, but just barely, still keeping his hands delicately around Ray's chest to help hold him upright. Ryan looks concerned, like he too wants to ply Jack away. Ray was hurt, gravely injured even; he was a dangerous animal right now.

Jack doesn't give a fuck.

"Your leg!" Gavin squawks. Jack glances down, looking over the twisted piece of rod piercing Ray's lower leg completely through. Geoff had seen it in the photo. How long had it been in there? How could Ray even walk right now?

"We gotta go," Jack says urgently, proceeding to pick Ray up without hesitation. Ryan flinches. Ray puts an idle hand on Jack's throat with clean precision and he knows exactly where to put pressure to get the most damage. He gives Jack a warning, first.

"Put me down," Ray warns. Jack jerks Ray's hand away from his neck.

"Ray, if you think I won't fight your stubborn ass right now," Jack threatens back. There's scary papa Jack.

"Jack," Ryan tries cautiously.

"We're going," Jack deadpans. Fortunately, Ray does seem to relax a little. He has to understand that he's in no position to walk at the moment. Or anything else, for that matter.

"I'm so uncomfortable right now," Ray murmurs, looking back on them as they begin to tail Jack out of the building. There's really no proper way to grasp Ray without hurting him at this point. "And this is incredibly homosexual, in case you were wondering. I am a grown man."

"There _is_  a quarter inch piece of steel hammered completely through your leg," Ryan points out gently.

"I can see your hip bone!" Michael shouts. "Your literal fucking bone!"

"You're a bunch of bitches," Ray scoffs.

"Oh, right. 'Please don't leave me here, Geoff. Please help me Geoff'," Geoff says mockingly. Ray squints at him sharply. There are times in Geoff's life where he thinks back and wonders just exactly how much he's had to drink do say shit like this. It couldn't be a lot, surely.

"You trying to go, Geoff?" Ray asks. "We can throw down right now. I'm ready." He's joking? Of all times, he wants to joke now. Geoff was going to die young, he could just feel it. Still, Ryan seemed less worried. He shouldn't be, Geoff was going to fucking kill him, but it said a lot.

"Shut the fuck up, Ray," Geoff huffs.

"Your crew bullies me so hard, Ryan. You're seeing this, right?"

Third rule of kidnapping; don't fuck with the Fake.

\- x -

Jack's not sure if he should feel honored that Ray is allowing his guard so down like this. He was doing what he could to patch Ray up, but a lot of it was too serious to work on with just a fucking first aid kit. This time, of course, Jack had remembered to give him anesthetic first and Ray had agreed on the rule that it wouldn't be anything that would put him to sleep.

There was a line.

Still, it was kind of weird to have Ray lie on the couch, high as a kite and completely unarmed while Jack literally stapled him back together. The others keep their distance without needing to be told to, only moving around when Jack asks them for something. Ryan and Gavin sit close by, though, somewhat absently playing an Xbox arcade game from the floor. Geoff and Michael keep further away, chatting between themselves quietly.

"Does it still hurt?" Jack asks carefully, cleaning up another gouge he's finished stapling so he can cover it. Ray snorts a little.

"You have no idea," he assures. There's only so much pain Jack can sooth without putting Ray under. Granted, Ray doesn't sound or move like he's in pain. Ryan looks back on them again, anxious if nothing else. Gavin elbows him hard.

"You're going to have to go to the hospital," Jack murmurs. There was no avoiding it. "I can't do anything about your leg and you definitely need surgery." Ray's chest was just wrecked beyond Jack's help. He's so badly bruised, there's no way of telling what's external and what's internal. The brand marks on Ray's side still make Jack cringe.

"Oh," Ray whines. "It's not that bad, is it? Just yank it out and I'll sleep a lot."

"It needs to be cut out, Ray," Jack insists firmly.

"Then cut it out," Ray huffs. Jack goes ahead and ignores that.

"And sleeping is not going to help you if something's ruptured. You need scans," he persuades. Ray shifts a little and Jack has to hold him still to remind him not to move like that. Or at all.

"Just do what you can," Ray says, sighing under his breath. Jack assumes that means he's going to mull it over and, hopefully, make the smart choice. Ryan joins them quietly, sitting on the coffee table and leaning on his knees to match Ray's height. Jack goes ahead and silences any further argument for now.

"I'm sorry," Ryan says softly. Geoff and Michael cease their conversation, instead directing their attention none too secretly to Ryan and Ray. Gavin does the same. Jack thinks that maybe they need some privacy but at the same time, he's kind of sick of Ryan leaving them out of everything. Besides, fixing Ray was more important at the moment.

"Could you be more specific?" Ray replies. "Would help to know what I'm mad at you for."

"For shooting you," Ryan elucidates. Ray goes eerily silent. "And yes, I'm saying this now when you probably, hopefully can't retaliate out of rage because I'm a fucking pansy." He's not wrong. The only sign that Ray is even listening is the cold, warning stare he directs at Ryan without waver.

"I, uh, know you said you didn't want an apology, but I assume that's because you think we were either both in the wrong or both in the right. That's not the case. You probably have no idea why I'd do something like that, either, and perhaps you thought what I did was warranted," Ryan tries to explain. He pauses momentarily, waiting to see if Ray has have anything to add. He doesn't. He's obviously just going to let Ryan talk. Jack keeps his eyes cast to his work.

"Well it wasn't. I had gotten this idea in my head that you were faking everything and using me and that when I stopped being useful, you'd turn on me. It was really fucking asinine of me, I know, but I had gotten so angry with you for something you hadn't even done," Ryan speaks without guard. He ruffles his hair between his hands in frustration, growling at himself. None of them had really heard this before, but rather just knew pieces and were left to their own assumptions.

"I was angry because I had loved you so much and I thought you had tricked me or betrayed me or something and I couldn't handle that. You were my everything," he murmurs quietly as if it would make up for what he's done. "And I lost that because I was a paranoid, stupid, narcissistic bastard."

Still, Ray says nothing. Jack's not sure he could have anything to say. There's no way he'd be able to comprehend what Ray could possibly be feeling right now.

"I didn't come back because you terrified me. You'd kill me for sure or worse; you wouldn't," Ryan laughs forcibly. "I honestly couldn't handle the thought that I had lost you. I even thought that, well, maybe if I didn't come back, you'd hunt me down and that was better than coming back and never having you speak to me again."

It was so bizarre to hear of the person Ryan used to be. It was even a bit amusing to think of him trying something like that with them, it was that out of character with the Ryan they knew. Ryan inhales deeply.

"I'm also sorry for, you know, uh, my family. I think you're right, and I was so worried and afraid of you being back in my life that I made them worried and afraid by association when all you wanted to do was help," Ryan says. He waits again for Ray to say something and when he doesn't, Ryan assumes he hasn't said enough.

"I don't know what else to say," he admits. "I'm sorry, again, and even if you can't forgive me and I can't make it up to you, I hope we can be at ease at least. Or, uh, friends even. I can have those now," he jokes stiffly. Jack's glad Ryan hadn't tried to push them out of this one sided conversation. This was important to all of them far more than Ryan realised. It stops being one sided.

"Fuck no," Ray practically sneers. "Get the fuck away from me, you son of a bitch." Though Ray doesn't make any moves to suggest he would attack Ryan, Jack is more than glad he is too numb to move more than a little at a time and not with coordination. Ryan is initially shocked and then he is sorrowful.

"Ray," he pleads.

"Ryan's just trying to apologise!" Gavin shouts. "He's admitting he was way bloody wrong!"

"I don't give a fuck," Ray snaps back. "What the hell's wrong with you? Do you know how long I spent hating myself because of you? I took care of you for days to make sure you didn't die and I loathed myself for it!"

Ryan looks as surprised as Jack does. It's an outburst he never would have guessed could come from Ray. The room goes quiet, the only audible sound is Ray's labored breathing. Ray can only glare Ryan down for so long before he flinches his eyes closed painfully and grasps at his chest.

"Ray?" Jack questions with concern, quickly moving his tools out of the way to assure Ray doesn't accidentally hurt himself on them. Ray gasps for air, clutching numbly at his heart as he rolls over, attempting to curl in on himself despite his largely unresponsive body. That wasn't good for him. When Jack tries to touch him, however, Ray lashes out.

"Get away from me!" he snaps and it startles Jack into letting him go. Ray was still dangerous and Jack didn't feel like finding out exactly how well that anesthetic was working especially with how fast he looked to be sweating it out. The others swoop in swiftly, ready to offer assistance as needed.

"Ray," Ryan says desperately. "What's wrong? Let Jack help you."

"Dude, I think he's having a fucking panic attack," Michael informs.

"Yes," Ray grits out between his teeth. "Fuck off."

"What do we do?" Gavin yelps, looking between Jack and Michael for some kind of direction.

"What part of get the hell away from me didn't you get‽ " Ray shouts. Everyone disperses at once, drawing huge gaps of space around him.

They can only wait now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> early posting this week, ye son. my favorite chapter so far, honestly, and i hope you guys enjoy it as well. stay tuned next week for exciting new character reveals. there's like four and they're all fucking nerds.


	8. Behind A Cigarette

"Well that was pretty damn scary," Gavin murmurs quietly. "I thought he was gonna bloody murder you right there."

Ryan hadn't expected Ray to burst like that at all. He certainly hadn't expected Ray to have a panic attack, either and again, Ryan has to wonder if it's entirely because of what he'd done all those years ago. As far as he knows, Ray hadn't had them before and yet Ray seemed to know all too well what was happening to him. Maybe he should have let Ray continue to think whatever he wanted about that night. Maybe that would have been better for everyone.

Now that Ray's calmed down again, Jack tends to him some more. Obviously Ray wouldn't accept any more pain killers and certainly not local anesthesia. He undoubtedly hated Ryan now and distrusted everyone else; he wouldn't be unguarded around them anymore. All that work between them gone in twenty minutes. Ryan can't help but think he should have known better. He always did this. He worked so hard for things just to throw them away in a miniscule amount of time.

"I thought he was going to fucking die," Geoff scoffs. Ryan finds it amazing that none of them are mad at him. They seem indifferent almost, as if what he did to Ray wasn't that bad. Above all else, Ryan knows they're not going to talk about it- not until he wants to. He really hopes they know how much he appreciates them.

"Yeah right," Michael grumbles. "After everything he's been through, he was going to die of a heart attack?"

"Hey," Jack calls to them from the couch and gestures them over. Ray is sat up beside him, slouched over on himself slightly. He doesn't look in their direction, rather he seems absent from the situation; he's shutting down. Ryan is sure to remain at the back as they finally leave the kitchen to approach Ray again cautiously. No one wants to risk setting him off. Ryan doubts they'll ever see that again.

"'S he okay now?" Geoff questions, motioning to Ray a bit. Ray looks at him suddenly, sharp, unemotioned eyes holding on Geoff in a way that makes everyone uncomfortable. At least if it was hostile, they'd know what to expect.

"I'm fine," he says plainly. He's not. "I need to call Lindsay. Where's my phone." There's no inflection to his voice at all, simple statements demanding simple replies. It wouldn't be wise to pressure him right now.

"Is it still in your apartment?" Gavin asks carefully. He wants to be helpful right now but there's so little he can do. Ray's not interested in help at the moment, especially from any of them. He doesn't answer the question, staring at Gavin unwaveringly without even the slightest hint of what he wants. It makes the room uneasy. Ray wants them, or more specifically Ryan, to feel uneasy.

"I'll call her for you," Michael finally says, luring Ray's gaze onto him. Like distracting a sniper, no one wants to be targeted for very long.

"Tell her I need a doctor," Ray instructs. "A good one. P2 at least. Jack's right, I have some internal bleeding." He looks down at himself, examining his arms and chest slightly for anything else that would be important to mention. Ryan's not sure Lindsay is going to know what that means, but he's too unnerved to speak right now. He's wise not to.

"Alright," Michael agrees shortly. He takes his phone and heads to a more private spot in the bedroom. Ryan assumes he has other things to say to her, as well, likely things he doesn't want or need Ray to hear. He's probably smart to do that.

"Are you going to hold up?" Geoff asks, this time directing it to Ray. His concern isn't even remotely appreciated, Ray adjusting himself silently as he tries to take the pressure off where it hurts most. There's not pain in his expression, though, only small hints in the way he moves and even then, just barely.

"Yeah," he answers placidly. "How 'bout you mind your own business?"

"You are my business," Geoff snaps back briskly, bristling angrily. Ryan pulls back a bit more, not so effectively hiding behind Gavin but feeling shielded all the same. He doesn't know how this is going to go. Never has he seen Ray like this. Ryan has figured out by now that learning new things about Ray was a lot scarier than remembering old things.

"No, I'm not," Ray says, showing no sign of anger or bitterness or hostility. He's removed from this situation, only sharing facts.

"Oh what, you can handle yourself? You really want to do that again, asshole? You gonna handle all of this yourself?" Geoff replies, vaguely gesturing outward. Ray holds his gaze firmly, coldly matching Geoff's frustration with indifference.

"Yes," Ray deadpans back. "What about you? Because I can definitely take care of myself a lot longer without you." Geoff steels his jaw. Ryan has no way of telling if Ray's threat is solid. It's true, of course, and if anything, Ray is ready to give up and truly let them fend for themselves. If that happens, Ryan can't stay here. Ryan really doesn't want to leave; doesn't want Ray to leave either.

"Ray," Ryan says carefully, gaining a bit of courage. Ray would never forgive him if he cowered away from every confrontation. "Calm down. Geoff just wants to help."

"I will slit your fucking throat, Ryan," Ray assures him. He's still upset. That being said, there's a time and place for cowards; here, now. Ryan wisely keeps any further comments to himself. It was like Ray was a completely different person. Ryan is unfamiliar with this Ray.

"Okay, you need to go somewhere else," Jack announces, motioning them away from Ray again. He's right. Geoff doesn't move immediately, taking a moment before apparently agreeing with him. This is exactly what Geoff doesn't like about Ray. When he passes Ryan, Geoff takes a hold of his arm to guide him down toward the bedroom. Michael's chatting in hushed tones in the closet when they enter.

"Ryan," Geoff speaks clearly. Ryan's not shockingly excited to hear anything Geoff has to tell him. Nothing he had to say could possibly be good right now. Honestly, all Ryan wanted was some time to cool down and hopefully figure out a way to hang onto the threads that are unwinding. "We need to talk."

"Alright?" Ryan murmurs back unsurely. It's not like that always eluded something unpleasant.

"I had the clean up crew get ids on the people in that building," Geoff explains. Ryan is no longer sure he knows what this is about. It doesn't seem to be about Ray like he assumed it would be.

"Okay?" he replies as Geoff scrolls through his phone. He shows Ryan an image of a man he isn't familiar with. Ryan shrugs a bit. "I don't know what this is, Geoff."

"That's the guy that kidnapped Ray," Geoff tells him. Ryan had never seen the man's face. He's sort of surprised he still has one after Ray had gotten done with him. Ray had learned that from Ryan, hadn't he? How to cause bodily harm like that. "I was in the military with him."

"What am I supposed to be taking from this? You made some enemies in the army, too? So what?" Ryan questions. This really isn't something he's interested in right now. Honestly, he doesn't give a fuck about any of the people from out of the Insurrection. They were dead and therefore, meaningless. Now wasn't the time to dwell on whether or not they knew the people coming after them.

"He didn't have anything to do with the Insurrection. Don't you find it weird that the only reason we assumed it was them was because of an envelope in Ray's apartment?" Geoff insists.

"Not really," Ryan murmurs. "Does it even matter who they were? They knew who you were and they didn't like you." He's not sure where this is going.

"All these grunts were hired hands, Ryan. Ex-military, ex-FBI, CIA, MI6- a lot of them were from _mob_ backgrounds. That's not strange to you?" he bites. Ryan glances over him as Michael leaves the room, only to focus on Geoff again absently. Maybe this whole Ray thing was starting to get to Geoff a little. He was being paranoid.

"No," Ryan replies simply, shaking his head a bit. "You just named five major organisations hired by a guy you used to be in the military with." With some annoyance, Geoff exhales loudly and frowns at him pointedly. Ryan's been around enough to know when something was suspicious and this really wasn't. It was amazing the kind of connections people could make when they were desperate so it wasn't a far stretch for a military man to gather up a bunch of ex-government agents and mob members.

"That trip wire?" Geoff reminds him. "You tripped it by not tripping it." Okay, that maybe was a little suspicious. "It broadcasted a signal, but we don't know where to."

"What are you thinking, Geoff?" Ryan finally asks, not coming to an obvious conclusion with this information alone. Fairly, it wasn't exactly conclusive. Geoff sighs irritably.

"I think this was a ploy," he says. "Someone wanted to know what we were capable of. I don't know if Ray was in on it, okay?" Everything circled back to exactly what Ryan didn't want to talk about; Ray.

"Don't," Ryan says tiredly. "Don't do this, Geoff. Maybe, _maybe_ , Ray knew something was wrong, _if_ anything was wrong, but you can't possibly think Ray willingly let himself be maimed like that for something so pointless." Ray was hiding things from them, but he'd been doing that from the beginning. Sometimes, it was just things that would make everything a lot more complicated if they knew. Other times, it was probably too unimportant to mention. There was no reason to suspect him of working against them now.

Ray would sacrifice his well being for a lot of things, but not for something like that. No matter how Geoff looked at it, Ray had been helping them. What Geoff was suggesting was, honestly, to ridiculous for Ray to have had anything to do with it. If anything, Geoff was making correlations that didn't match. There might be a bigger enemy here, but it wasn't Ray.

Geoff looks at him aggressively.

"I know what you're thinking and I'm not saying that out of guilt. It just doesn't make sense, Geoff. Ray's a little, uh, scary right now, but he needs to stay," Ryan persuades. Ray should calm down after he got some space and hopefully it would be enough to not actually try to slit his throat. Preferably, if they could not do anything further to make Ray want to leave, that would be great.

"Ryan," Geoff answers firmly. "You really need to consider why Ray's here and more importantly, why he got kicked out of Republica."

"Lindsay's here," Gavin informs from the door. Geoff glances at him momentarily before looking back to Ryan. There's not much more to this conversation but Geoff wants his agreement. Ryan gives it, nodding slightly to assure that he'll do _something_ with this information. Distract himself, probably.

"I love you, Ryan," Geoff promises. "And that's why we need to be cautious."

"I love you, too," Ryan replies gently. Now isn't the time to tell Geoff.

Geoff follows Gavin back up the stairs and Ryan's right behind him. Jack and Michael now stand on the other side of the coffee table, keeping a distance from the couch Ray is currently immobile from.

"What's Caleb gonna do that Jack can't do?" Michael grumbles. On the couch, Caleb checks Ray over carefully, examining the patch work Jack's done and looking closely into broken bones and hemorrhaging. Kerry stands near by with an unlabeled duffel bag, currently acting as an assistant. Lindsay hovers behind the couch. She glances directly at Ryan when they appear but turns back to Ray shortly after.

"Caleb's an RT surgeon," Ray says, answering Michael's question somewhat poorly. Michael wouldn't know what that is.

"I'm a nurse," Caleb murmurs idly, only paying enough attention to correct.

"He's a what?" Gavin asks pointedly. Ryan opens his mouth to answer before getting distracted by his own conclusion. That made a lot of sense, actually. Having spent a lot of time behind the scenes, Ryan knows Caleb is an extremely skilled medic. If Caleb was on Republica's payroll, why was he hanging around Fake AH, then? Unless-

"Lindsay," Ryan says curiously. "Are you from Republica?" If there was an RT doctor hanging around, there had to be a Republica agent keeping him here, surely. There's no way a normal person could get a second rate doctor to stay here. Plus, Ray had immediately gone to her for help like he knew she would be able to get him one. Lindsay looks at him questioningly.

"Christ Ryan, don't even-" Michael begins but Lindsay cuts him off.

"Course," she answers as if it's not a big deal.

"You fucking what?" Michael says a bit louder than absolutely necessary. Ryan has to say he isn't completely surprised. Lindsay had performed some pretty impossible feats that seemed a lot more possible with that kind of training backing her up. He's not sure why he hadn't thought of it before, he thought he knew her well enough. Then again, a person can never really know a Republica agent well enough.

"I'm from Republica?" Lindsay repeats.

"What the hell do you mean you're from Republica?" Geoff snaps. From what he knows about Republica, this is probably a frightening thing to find out. Ryan's not sure they really understand how Republica works. Fairly, between he and Ray, they've probably painted some sort of super villain spy idea about it when that wasn't the case.

"You hired me through them, Geoff," Lindsay informs him. She seems a bit confused about his confusion. "You put out an ad, Republica picked it up and I answered. It was on my résumé?"

"Right, I read that," Geoff says sarcastically. "What the fuck, Lindsay? Did you know about Ryan?"

"Yes?" she assures simply, peering at Ryan. She probably thought he knew about her, too. He did not. Unlike Lindsay, Ryan no longer had access to an entire world of information.

"And?" Geoff demands.

"And?" Lindsay repeats.

"I left Republica," Ryan informs her. Lindsay raises her eyebrows curiously. She clearly hadn't known that. Of course she hadn't. Ray had likely covered for him by changing his status to temporary leave. No one would have questioned it if he had just taken a long break.

"Did you?" she says with interest. She wants to know why he's still alive. If he wasn't careful, he wouldn't be for long.

"And you knew about Ray?" Gavin asks bemusedly.

"Of course," Lindsay assures.

"And you're just fine with this?" Michael insists. She doesn't make the connection. Of course, she's been working for Geoff this whole time, there's no reason she would know there's a bounty on them. There's no reason for her to have performed another background check on them since Ray's arrival, either, so she wouldn't know they're inactive. To her, they're just two co workers in the field with different missions. She wouldn't interfere with their missions, of which neither of them actually had, but she couldn't know that, either.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Lindsay muses.

"She's not going to take the bounty," Ray mentions from the couch absently. Caleb dislocates one of Ray's shoulders with a loud crack suddenly and it makes a good portion of the room jump. Ray doesn't even react. "She's working for Geoff pretty much indefinitely."

"That makes me feel loads better," Geoff agrees with dripping sarcasm.

"I'm on a no bid contract," Lindsay informs him. "That I'm guessing you also didn't read."

"We're a fucking gang. Why were you sending me paperwork, anyways?" Geoff argues.

"No bid means she works for you until her contract is fulfilled or closed," Ryan explains. "She can't take other jobs and she can't be bought or blackmailed out."

"Yep!" Lindsay says brightly. Caleb sets Ray's shoulder again, properly this time. God that noise was awful. "Until you die or fire me, I'm here forever!"

"I should really read that contract," Geoff murmurs.

"Probably shoulda read it before you signed it," she points out. This is actually good for them, though. This means they have a connection to Republica. Ryan's not sure that actually helps them, but it's a good source to have especially if she's on a contract with Geoff. She won't interfere if someone from Republica comes after him or Ray, but she'll definitely protect the rest of the crew. Hopefully. Geoff really does need to read that contract.

"See, that shit makes me nervous," Geoff says briskly. "Did I sign a fucking deal with the devil or something?"

"That's so mean, Geoff," Lindsay scoffs but it's good natured; a joke. "I'm just saying, you really should read the things you sign."

"Could we get a copy of your contract?" Ryan asks.

"Sure," Lindsay agrees. "I'll email it to Geoff, again, when I get some free time." Ryan needs to have a chat with her more than ever, now. It's no wonder she and Ray got along so well; they were the same cut.

"So wait, are Caleb and Kerry from Republica, too, then?" Gavin inquires in confusion. Caleb glances up at his name but again, seems to hardly be paying attention, too busy cleaning up after Jack's work on Ray. Jack had no medical training and Caleb was a well trusted doctor, of course he was going to redo most of Jack's work.

"Well, not quite," Ryan answers instead. "A lot of people from Republica get injured pretty grotesquely on a normal basis, so Republica just kind of signs with doctors all over the world. It's more like renting them out. They usually don't have allegiance with Republica and continue to work on the side."

"I'm not actually with Republica, just fyi," Kerry assures. "I just help."

"Caleb's a back alley surgeon," Lindsay informs gladly. "So I signed him to help me out."

"Nurse," Caleb corrects again.

"He's done a lot of work for this crew," she continues unbothered. "Worked on a lot of you guys when you got too fucked up."

"I don't recall that ever happening," Jack comments from the side. Admittedly, there were a lot of times where Lindsay just disappeared with the injured, but that doesn't explain why none of them would know Caleb was such a good nurse.

"There's so many drugs in this bag," Kerry says. "It's like eighty five percent drugs and only fifteen percent tools." That explains it. Nothing said perfect health and minor memory loss like unapproved and banned drugs.

"Alright," Caleb speaks suddenly, drawing everyone's attention automatically. He sits up a little, holding one of Ray's arm at an angle to keep his frame tilted in a specific way. "Ray does need some small inside patchwork and I do need to get those brands off of him, so I'm going to have to take him somewhere clean."

"That's fine," Ray agrees without argument before anyone else could possibly consider speaking for him. Caleb helps him to his feet, keeping Ray's arm awkwardly angled. Kerry quickly approaches the other side, letting Ray lean on him as needed. It's not needed.

"How long's that gonna take, Caleb?" Geoff questions as they begin heading for the door. Ray limps a little, his leg slowly but surely getting worse and more difficult to walk on.

"Couple hours?" Caleb suggests with a polite shrug. Lindsay walks ahead of them to grab the door. Ray stops though, sighing under his breath.

"Ryan," Ray calls out to him suddenly. Ryan feels himself flinch like he's been cut. He wasn't expecting Ray to talk to him directly so soon. "You need to come with me."

"Look, I know you're upset with him and he is a dumb fucking dickwad, but you can't strangle Ryan, alright?" Geoff says bluntly.

"Someone's been following us," Ray explains. "If you stay here, you'll be on your own." What he really means is if Ryan stays here, he'll only lead them straight to his family. Ryan glances at Geoff naturally. These weren't ideal options right now.

"I'm going, too," Jack says quickly. "I can help."

"I wouldn't say no to help," Caleb assures. Geoff nods in confirmation. As long as someone is around to buffer Ryan and Ray, it should be fine. At least, Ryan hopes so. Whoever's following them, Ray obviously doesn't think they'll attack when they're together or he would have mentioned it already.

"I don't trust all you Republicans alone in the same room together, anyways," Geoff scoffs.

"Republicas," comes three immediate, simultaneous corrections from Caleb, Lindsay, and Ryan.

"Whatever," grumbles Geoff. "Handle them, Jack." Jack clearly isn't amused by his joke. Like he would stand a chance against them. Kerry he could handle, maybe.

"More like get handled," Michael mutters.

"Come on, we need to go," Caleb instructs.

\- x -

"I have something to check on," Geoff announces after Ryan and Jack have been away for roughly an hour. It's just the three of them for now; Michael, Gavin, and Geoff. Sure, there's a lot of concerning shit happening right now, but there wasn't a lot they could do about it at the moment. They'd just have to wait to hear back from Jack or Ryan to see how things were.

"Wot? By yourself?" Gavin asks loudly. He knows when Geoff is doing something without them. Michael isn't too concerned about it, though. He's pretty sure they'd be safer separated, anyways. It was way easier to escape when they weren't a giant moving target and at this point, escaping was their best bet. Fighting had to be done on home ground or at least with preparation first.

"Gonna see the wife," Geoff assures him. "Hold down the fort, boys." This does make Gavin feel a bit better, obviously. Surely Geoff would be somewhat safe around Griffon. At any rate, safer than he would be alone or, truthfully, with them.

"No problem," Michael answers. "Watch your back, Geoff."

Geoff leaves quietly and then it's just Gavin and him. It feels kind of weird to be alone like this; the apartment is too quiet. This, of course, is solved with video games and shouting. Michael has never been one for the quiet life, but holy shit, even he needed some down time. No, jail didn't count as down time. He'll be happy when this is all over even if he knows there will only be one way it's over.

"I used to play online with this guy who had a ridiculous gamerscore," Michael talks as they fool around aimlessly in a zombie game. They haven't slept in a while, but now wasn't the time. Caffeine and power naps would hold them over for another day, easy. "Like, it was in the high three hundred thousands."

"No way!" Gavin replies in disbelief. "You'd have to never leave your damn house!"

"I don't think he did!" Michael promises. "He was like always already online whenever I got on."

"You ever talk to him?" Gavin asks curiously, tilting his body dramatically to go along with his in game movement.

"Nah. He straight up disappeared one day and then I got involved with the mob and whatever. Didn't really have time for bullshit internet friends," he scoffs back. He would say, it did feel pretty nice to be able to just talk about his past now without trying to censor himself. None of the guys ever cared, either, just accepting it as normal. Who was he kidding, it was normal for what happened around here.

"Oh man, he probably died or something," Gavin insists.

"Yeah, or finally got a girlfriend," Michael jokes back. Gavin laughs. A ring from the office catches their attention, though, ceasing conversation for curiosity. They pause the game.

"Seriously?" Gavin squeaks. "Did Ryan leave his damn mobile here?"

"Go fucking get it," Michael says, giving Gavin a small shove. He huffs loudly, tossing his controller down to head across the apartment to the small study. Of course Ryan left his phone at home now of all times. Michael turns back to the tv, debating on whether or not to mess with Gavin's character while he's gone.

Gavin's yelp sends Michael straight to his feet. A loud thump follows; Gavin hitting the floor. Michael draws his gun at once, holding it ready at his front. Gavin's fine. He probably just fucking tripped or something. Gavin did it all the time.

"Gavin?" Michael calls wearily, slowly heading up the stairs to find out what happened. There's no reply. God, please let him have knocked himself out. Michael discovers very quickly, Gavin had not hurt himself. Even as cautiously as he moves, the stranger surprises him. Michael all but drops his gun when the taser's darts latch onto him.

He shouts in both anger and pain when he goes down, twitching uncontrollably under the powerful shock. It doesn't last long, but the aftermath leaves him unable to move and just barely able to breath. The figure steps out of the room just slightly, making sure Michael's down, before dragging Gavin out of the study and resting him beside Michael. Gavin's completely unconscious.

"That was easy," the stranger murmurs. At first Michael thinks it's to himself but then a voice replies from a mic by his throat.

"Don't get ahead of yourself yet," she assures him. He picks up Michael's gun, unloading it and tossing it under a lounge chair. "Come on, get to work." The figure scoffs slightly but does just that. He retrieves his phone from his pocket and proceeds to point it at Gavin's face. Michael can't help but notice how much like Ray the stranger is armed.

"That good?" he asks the voice, crouched in a way to take another picture if required.

"Perfect. Gavin David Free from Oxfordshire, England. Looks like some people have tried to wipe his data a few times. Some training with the British intelligence agency, but not much. Self proclaimed hetro-flexible," she lists off informatively. Michael tries desperately to get the feeling back in his muscles when the intruder reaches for him next.

His head is lifted carefully, Michael having landed mostly face down, and a picture is snapped of his face. The stranger, a bearded man with a septum piercing, places him back down gently as if it would even make a difference at this point. He walks away from them at that point, heading further into the apartment.

"Michael Vincent Jones of New Jersey, United States. Lots of disciplinary transcripts here. Spent some time in the mob as an incendiary expert and then upgraded to doing some pretty gnarly stuff. Watch your back with that one, Adam, he'll get you," she warns. Damn right he would. Adam looks back on him but obviously he doesn't think Michael of much of a threat at the moment.

"Yeah yeah. What am I looking for, exactly?" Adam questions, his eyes focused almost entirely on his phone as he browses the apartment.

"Paper goods mostly. Stuff we can't get into remotely," the voice explains. Adam shuffles through some papers laying around, stopping to take photos of whatever he thinks is worth it. Michael knows most of it is junk but he also knows the intruder has probably already found their good information in the study. It pisses him off to have to watch a stranger rifle through his home.

"There's another contract in the area," the voice informs suddenly. Adam doesn't react very concerned over this, idly scrounging through a table drawer. "It's open face, too. Nothing we should worry about, looks like. Just try not to cause too much damage."

"No problem," Adam answers. Beside Michael, Gavin groans softly. He shifts a bit but Adam doesn't seem to notice. Slowly and carefully, Gavin lifts his head a little to view the stranger. When he's sure the man isn't looking, Gavin reaches toward Michael and digs into one of his pant pockets to retrieve his cellphone.

"Hurry up, Adam. James will splatter you against a wall if he catches you there," she insists.

"I think I would be more worried about what Ray would do, honestly," Adam says but he doesn't sound overly worried about it. Michael tries to move himself again, only feebly able to move his fingers at this point. Gavin shakes his head at Michael fiercely, silently letting him know that he couldn't get a message out. That shock probably fried his phone.

Gavin averts his eyes to the couch where he's left his own cell and Michael grinds his teeth. One of them had to get over there, but they wouldn't be doing that without distracting Adam. Michael needs to move and he needs to move now. With pure will power, Michael gets up onto his hands and knees, forcing himself upright. The more he moves, the easier it gets, his muscles shaking off the jolt with only minor pain.

Michael stays down low, though, Gavin quickly playing unconscious. Adam takes a peek at them shortly, assuring they're still out of commission, before heading down to the bedroom. Michael gets to his feet immediately. There's guns all over this place, but he doesn't think that's a good idea. From what he knew about Ray and to some extent, Ryan, if he threatened Adam's life, Adam would straight up kill him. Michael just wanted to keep his attention until Gavin could alert Ryan.

Gavin breaks for the couch, a little wobbly on his feet but still perfectly capable of moving. He hadn't been tasered like Michael, after all. When he reaches the couch, Adam spots him.

"Hey," Adam calls casually and Gavin jumps. He looks back on the much more intimidating figure as it closes in on him. Adam was not a small guy. "Why don't you go back to sleep, buddy?"

Michael lunges at him. Adam, though surprised, side steps out of the way with ease. He puts some room between them as Michael stumbles to right himself, losing control with sudden movements. Even then, he moves at Adam again, aiming to hit the mic with his fist. Adam extends his baton with a flick of the wrist, immediately striking Michael's arm away from him and off shooting him straight to the ground.

"Whoa, settle down. I'm not going to hurt you," Adam persuades as Michael gets up again.

"Adam?" the voice calls questioningly.

"I'm fine, Ashley," Adam promises, hitting Michael hard in the jaw with his stick when he's rushed again. Michael sneers angrily, keeping his footing this time but just barely. That fucking hurt!

"Adam, there's a signal going out!" Ashley says suddenly. Adam turns to Gavin sharply, Gavin crouched on the other side of the couch with his phone in hand. When he breaks to stop Gavin, Michael jumps to stop him. Adam delivers two harsh blows with a snap his arm, one to his rib cage and the second to his neck. He moves a lot faster than Michael thought he would. Michael hits the floor from the force of the strikes alone, gasping for air between the compression on his lungs and the spasm in his throat.

Adam hops the couch in a single vault, swinging his baton down hard on Gavin and meeting defensive forearms. Gavin slides away as much as he can, quickly fleeing the confrontation when Adam loses interest in him. Adam picks up the forgotten phone instead, checking it swiftly.

"Did you stop it?" Adam asks quickly.

"It wasn't cell signal. Wasn't internet, either. Some sort of local connection. You need to get out of there, now," Ashley demands. Michael's not going to let that happen if he can help it. Gavin makes a move like he's going to attack Adam from the front and Michael uses the distraction to grab his back. He gets a firm grip around Adam's throat with his arm and remains there even as Adam jerks his body to the side.

"Shit!" Adam curses, grabbing at the back of Michael's shirt to try and pull him off. Gavin attacks him from the front and Adam uses his free hand to hit him away hard, striking the side of Gavin's face with his baton.

"I'm calling Joel," Ashley says as Michael grabs for the mic. Breaking their connection was vital. Adam swings his baton back, hitting Michael square down the back and making him hiss.

"Don't call Joel!" Adam shouts back, kicking the coffee table at Gavin to knock him off his feet. It slides across the floor and Gavin yelps when its edge hits him below his knees. "It's all fine!"

"Either you get out of there or I call Joel," Ashley warns. Adam grabs a hold of Michael's arm with one hand and the back of his neck with the other and finally jerks him off, flinging him over his head and hard onto the glass top. Michael gasps when his back hits it dead on, all air yanked from his lungs.

"I'm working on it, okay!" Adam promises. With the end of his baton, he snags the cord to one of the controllers and jerks it into his reach. Immediately he chucks it across the room and hits Gavin directly in the back of the head, stopping him completely from trying to get to his pistol.

"Bloody hell!" Gavin shouts. Adam looks down at Michael momentarily before breaking for the door. He leaves without any further attempts to stop him. Michael groans quietly, shifting his back a little only to discover he's in too much pain to even do that. His entire chest feels like it's on fire.

"Gavin?" Michael calls. "Are you alright, boi?"

"Did you bloody see that? He threw a god damn controller at my head and actually fucking hit me!" Gavin answers loudly. "That wasn't fair!"

He's fine.

\- x -

"He was in our apartment," Geoff growls angrily. Ryan's only glad that no one was seriously injured. Michael and Gavin have some bad bruises, but that's about it. Considering the circumstances, it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

They're together now, all piled into Caleb's clean room to some degree of discomfort. Honestly, they should have never tried to separate in the first place but no one had thought it a good idea to cram into a small room with Ray right now. No one continues to think this is a good idea. As a back alley 'nurse', Caleb only has so much room to work with. Geoff's already promised him a new building but for now, the nine of them are stuck here together.

"That's because we live there," Jack assures Geoff passively, checking Michael's jaw with gentle fingers. Michael holds an ice pack against his ribs while Gavin leans on his shoulder, icing the back of his head. "And for some reason continue to live there even though everyone apparently knows."

"Ray made it sound like we wouldn't have to leave our apartment," Geoff points out sharply, shooting Ray a displeased stare. Ray looks at him with minimum interest. Caleb is sat in a low chair as he works on removing the twisted metal from Ray's leg. Kerry lends his hands, only moving them as Caleb prompts him to. Ray's looking better physically already, that's for sure, even if that's only because he's bandaged properly and cleanly now.

"Yeah, because I didn't think anyone from Republica would bother with us," Ray replies. Geoff glares at him but it's effects are none. He turns back to Gavin and Michael, sighing unhappily as he looks over their injuries again. With much reluctance, he sits himself against the wall with the others.

"I think his name was Adam," Gavin informs. Ray flinches. Ryan assumes it's from Caleb's anesthesia free operating but Geoff narrows his eyes suspiciously.

"Yeah," Michael confirms. "And the woman he was talking to was Ashley. She threatened to call someone named Joel, too."

"He's a low rank, then," Ryan murmurs. "Low ranking members on high ranked missions need to have a remote operator to help them along and contact their partners if necessary."

"So we have a bunch of newbies after us now?" Michael scoffs.

"No, no," Ryan assures with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Joel is, or rather was, above my rank back when I knew him. Adam must be his new partner." Another flinch. Geoff is concentrate now, eyes unwavering from his target.

"Oh, because that's better," Jack says sarcastically. "So instead, it's a trainee and an elite."

"I wouldn't say 'elite'," Ryan answers somewhat touchily. "He's simply been there longer; it's seniority. On a job like this, I don't know why he'd take someone of Adam's rank as a partner though."

Ray winces his eyes closed in a quick movement but Geoff catches it. Of course he catches it.

"Alright," Geoff says briskly. "Why do you flinch every time someone mentions the name 'Adam'?" he demands. As if to prove his point invalid, Ray doesn't flinch. He watches Geoff with a raised brow, only finally flinching again in response to something Caleb does.

"My bad. I forgot you're not supposed to show weakness in front of the alpha dog. It's not like I literally got nailed to the floor to protect one of your weird brother-husbands," Ray informs, gesturing to his leg mildly. Geoff scowls a little, unpleased with the reminder Ray is holding over his head. Ryan dumbly intervenes between them again, but this time only directs it to Geoff.

"Geoff, it's just a coincidence," Ryan insists. Geoff really is getting paranoid.

"I dunno," Lindsay murmurs suggestively. "It sounds like Ray might have some past with Adam and Joel." Ray gives her a dirty look but she just smiles like she's done no wrong. Ryan looks over Ray curiously and Ray stares back at him with rancour. She's right. He looks back at Lindsay.

"That was a dirty move and you know it," Ray says unhappily, obviously knowing they'd believe her over him. They do. Lindsay shrugs.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she promises. "Ryan's the loophole guy, not me." They all watch Ray now though he shows clear discomfort for the situation. For a moment, it doesn't appear as though he's going to say anything about it at all but before anyone can prod the angry rabbit, Ray huffs a sigh.

"I get it. It's karma, right? Like a band aid; let's get it out of the way now so we don't have to deal with it in the middle of a fight later," he speaks but it appears to be largely to himself. Ray adjusts deliberately, leaning back on the hard table top to rest most of his weight on his palms; open body language. "Fine. A couple months after you apparently lost your goddamn mind, I got a new partner."

Despite himself, Ryan legitimately wants to hear this. No matter how much he knows it's going to hurt, he needs to know that Ray had managed without him. Ryan needs to know he hadn't broken him.

"Joel and I started working together. He got me to forget about you," Ray admits without the slightest hint of guilt. He makes no effort to pretend the story is for anyone else. "We worked well together."

"Yeah, he finally got laid real well, too," Lindsay agrees. Ray doesn't dispute this in any way, just sort of giving a shrug and nod to assure she's correct. Geoff sends her an annoyed look. "What? One day he was at the top and then the next he hit rock bottom hard and suddenly he was breaking records? You're telling me he didn't get some good dick?"

"Records?" Ryan questions, ignoring all the parts he doesn't want to hear about. Ray isn't his anymore. He can't get jealous because Ray moved on. Ryan moved on, too. Ryan moved on four times.

"He scored over fourteen hundred," Lindsay says.

"You did?" Ryan looks to Ray, baffled above all else. They'd never come close to something like that together.

"Fifteen eighty three," Ray corrects. Ryan doesn't know what to say.

"What's that mean?" Jack finally asks, yearning for the rest of them to be filled in as well. Ryan supposes it just sounds like gibberish to them.

"Republica gives each person a score based on how well they performed their job," Lindsay begins explaining.

"Different jobs have different requirements and star levels," Ryan takes the conversation quickly. While Lindsay is perfect adequate at explaining it, Ryan feels like he should be the one doing it. "It starts with ten stars being the easiest and goes down. The max points on a one star job is thirteen hundred." Otherwise known as significantly less than what Ray had allegedly scored.

"The max on a no star is sixteen hundred," Ray notes.

"They gave you a no star job with a new partner?" Ryan questions, stunned. He and Ray hadn't even gotten a two star job, something about Ryan losing too many partners to risk it so soon. They had perfected some higher starred missions, sure, but they'd never gotten over seventy percent on a three star. Ray had immediately come seventeen points shy of perfection on a no star with a new partner. That was practically gibberish to Ryan.

"Joel was very convincing," Ray says. He was so much better without Ryan.

"What does that have to do with Adam?" Gavin asks curiously.

"Absolutely nothing," Ray promises. "Pretty funny to see the look on Ryan's face when he realised he was holding me back, though." Ryan has nothing to say. He couldn't apologise, certainly. He hadn't even known. Not that he had ever blamed Ray for holding them back. Those requirements could be a bitch and luck was a strong factor. He deserves all the malice Ray has.

"Joel and I worked this job for Adam," Ray goes on. "After I got put on down time for health concerns, we did some search work. Adam wanted us to find someone and we did. Afterward-" He frowns a little, but won't break Ryan's gaze. "Joel kept going back to hang out with him or whatever."

Ryan absolutely hates where this story is going.

"And Adam apparently showed the skills and mentality needed to work for Republica. Joel said that's why he kept going back. They offered Adam a job and Joel partnered with him whenever they put me on down time or I did solo jobs," Ray continues, but the more he tells the less stoic he gets. He doesn't like having to put this all out in the open. Why would he?

"When I found out they were banging each other, I sort of," he trails off a bit with something akin to embarrassment. "Lost my cool."

"That's why you hate Adam?" Gavin concludes on his own. Ray looks at him with a puzzled expression.

"I don't hate Adam," he assures. "Or Joel. When I say I lost my cool, I mean Adam and I kicked the shit out of each other in the training room. Nearly killed him. When it came down to it, Joel shouted for Adam. Not me." Was it any wonder Ray flinched at the very name. If he had been that good partnered up with Joel, they had to have some strong chemistry. It had to have hurt to lose that in such a way.

"That-" Ryan says slowly. "Doesn't sound like something Joel would do." He doesn't want to point it out, but he also feels there's something important being left out. Ray stares at him.

"Oh what? Fucking someone else? I told him it was fine," Ray says simply. He had tested himself. Ryan is unsure of whether Ray had been successful or not in that notion. Perhaps it didn't have the same flare as getting shot, but it yielded the same results. Ray let Joel shoot him and ended up fatally wounded.

"So Adam's your ex-boyfriend's new boyfriend," Geoff sums up.

"Yep," Ray confirms. "Feels great. Glad they're here. Please just kill me."

"Republica doesn't hold grudges though, right?" Jack asks. "I mean, you're not going to do something stupid, are you?"

"I don't see why they didn't just share Joel," Gavin murmurs under his breath. Ray hears, he has to, but he doesn't make a reply or even acknowledges it. Not everyone works the way they did.

"Am I going to go fight with them? Fuck no. What am I, an idiot?" Ray scoffs. "They're just here to gather information, probably. We need to be more worried about who they're working for."

"How do we find that out?" Geoff asks. Ryan doesn't like the answer.

"We wait to see who hits us where it hurts," Ray replies simply. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can never thank you guys enough for the continuing support. tune in next week where we go from rated m to rated e and for real tho that's like five times as many dicks as usual how does that even work [also some plot stuff if you squint i guess]


	9. The Message

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings; ryan being a masochist, some aggressive biting, mild choking, just overall roughness, lots of dicks

Ryan would argue that staying in several motel rooms side by side is not actually staying together and absolutely wouldn’t prevent any of them from being silently ambushed by Joel. Adam clearly wasn’t as skilled, but even then, Ryan wasn’t sure they’d have a fair fight. If he had been there to hurt Michael or Gavin, they wouldn’t have had a chance. The only reason they had one at all was because he seemed to be deliberately trying not to hurt them. This leads Ryan to think Ray is right and they’re just here for information. Who they’re giving that information to is a lot more concerning.

Regardless, Ray needed sleep and they couldn’t all sleep in Caleb's tiny clean room. They moved into the shoddy motel close by and quickly obtained enough rooms for their liking, mostly by force. Just because the Fake AH Crew was having a bit of trouble with some very powerful people didn’t mean they didn’t still run this town. He’d think people would remember that. Though for now his boyfriends relax together in a single room, as much as they can relax, they all plan on retiring to separate rooms. The beds here simply aren’t big enough for more than three people and good rest after nearly two days without sleep is more important than being worried about another ambush that likely wouldn't come.

“Lindsay,” Ryan beckons to her quietly from the hall. Lindsay perks up a bit, looking at him questioningly for a moment before approaching his side. Even now, Ryan’s not really sure why he hadn’t made the connection before. She reminds him so much of how Ray used to be; good natured but destructive. Like setting a fire to restore a forest.

“Yeah?” she replies, smiling at him faintly. Ryan doesn’t know her shockingly well, or at least, not as well as he thought to know her, but he knows the kind of people Republica extends work to and he knows she’d shoot him dead with that smile without a second thought under many, many circumstances. This is not one of them.

“Can we talk?” he asks pointedly. Lindsay only grins a little wider. She wants to talk, too. Ryan doesn’t believe this is going to go as well for him as it’s going to go for her.

“Sure thing, Ryan. You gotta come with me to grab some food, though,” Lindsay tells him, grabbing his arm and gladly leading him down the hall. Leaving doesn’t sound like a fantastic idea. Ray was officially out cold and with two confirmed Republica agents on their tail, perhaps both counter measures shouldn’t leave the building.

“Lindsay,” Ryan says carefully.

“Caleb gave Ray half a dose of dust,” she assures him. Oh god in heaven. “If anything wakes him up, he’s going to literally pull the skin off of their backs.”

“I’m fairly certain he’ll do a lot worse than that,” Ryan murmurs. Now he’s sort of concerned about Ray mistakenly being disturbed by them. They’re not exactly the quietest bunch of people, after all, and Ray currently does hold a bit of annoyance towards them. Recalling this, and recalling that Ray easily hates him more than anyone else at the moment, Ryan decides that it’s probably a better idea for him to not be here right now. He goes along with her willingly.

“What d’ya want to talk about?” Lindsay questions, gesturing him into her only kind of stolen car. Ryan climbs into the passenger seat, idly adjusting his mask to assure it stays on with the top of the vehicle down.

“Well, uh, Ray, actually,” he admits. “Honestly, though, Lindsay, I don’t have anything worth any value to give you in return.” Lindsay had never really asked him for anything before, but that was before he knew she was from Republica. Admittedly, his logic is a bit flawed considering she had known he was the entire time. It doesn't surprise him that she hadn't mentioned it. Even if Ryan had known, he wouldn't have said anything, either.

“Just this one time, I’ll give you a freebie,” Lindsay teases with a wink. Though Ryan isn’t completely comfortable with that, that’s a good way to get into ‘you owe me’ territory, he still has little to offer her. Technically, this is information for the crew so perhaps he could potentially even himself out if it came to that. “I have to say, though, I didn’t work with Ray personally. All I know is information from rumors, really.”

“You still have contact with Roosterteeth though, right?” Ryan assures.

“Occasionally. I try to keep my distance,” she says. He understands. Many agents tend to cut off from Republica while on jobs. There generally wasn’t a point in it, after all, and suspicious activity could be monitored and obtained by just about anyone. Republica wasn’t shockingly secure, though this wasn’t because they couldn’t be but more because they didn’t need to be. It was amazing how many people backed off after asking the right questions.

“Do you know what happened between Ray and Joel?” Ryan asks calmly. Ray was being short with him and they both knew it. Fairly, Ray had every reason to leave out as many details as he felt comfortable with but Ryan had every reason to know exactly how Ray would be able to handle this. It wasn’t difficult to see how Ray had changed; he was getting unstable.

“A little,” Lindsay replies. “Supposedly, Ray stopped taking jobs for a while after you 'went on vacation'. The jobs he did take were apparently low jobs and he did atrocious. No one really noticed until he and Joel partnered up. They were getting ninety five to ninety eight percentile scores right off the bat.” That fell along with what she had said earlier. It’s still a bit of a sore spot for Ryan.

“Ray was doing all the work, too. They thought he was taking MK at first. You know Joel, he gets stuff done but he takes his time; he wants to walk there. Ray wanted to be shot out of a canon at a hundred miles an hour,” Lindsay explains. That didn’t sound like Ray at all. Ryan had always known Ray to be rather laid back and relatively patient. “He was pretty much dragging Joel a mile through snow, uphill both ways.”

“How did Joel feel about that?” Ryan inquires. It sounded like Joel had just been someone for Ray to latch onto while he worked. He wouldn’t have been able to get lower starred jobs without him, clearly, otherwise he would have done it on his own. Plus, regardless of Joel's participation, or lack of it, Ray had been used to working with a partner.

“I’m not sure but they did have to put Ray on restriction while they made sure he wasn’t overdosing or burning out. Someone probably made a complaint and I can’t think of anyone else that would do that,” she admits. Joel had actually been worried about Ray’s wellbeing, then. Ryan feels that small pang of jealousy again. “As far as I know, he hadn’t really been on drugs.”

“What about Adam? They did a job for him on Ray's down time, did they not?” Ryan persists on. Maybe he does want to know more about their falling out for personal reasons. Some part of him is glad that they didn’t work out and some part of him is upset that Joel had treated Ray in such a way. The rest of him is a fucking moron.

“I can’t tell you about that,” Lindsay says instead. Ryan glances at her halfly, arching a brow behind his mask. “I made a deal.”

“You made a deal not to tell me about Adam?” he confirms.

“I made a deal not to tell you about what happened during the mission that Ray met Adam during,” Lindsay defines.

“Alright,” Ryan murmurs. There were plenty of loopholes in place already, but for now he moves away from the subject. Something had clearly happened during that time that Ray didn't want Ryan to know. He assumes it's Ray, anyways. “Do you know how Ray and Joel broke up?”

“Oh yeah,” Lindsay laughs. “Ray supposedly found out about them sleeping together from the summary footage. When they got back, he immediately asked Adam to train with him on the floor. Ray did nearly kill him, but Adam kicked the shit out of him, too. Maybe on purpose, maybe Ray was tired.” She shrugs suggestively. Ryan wouldn’t be surprised if Ray had manipulated the situation to put Joel on the spot but now he questions if maybe Ray really had gotten worn down.

“Joel found out, of course, and yeah, he shouted pretty desperately for Adam. Ray called the match and they went their separate ways,” Lindsay concludes simply. It all sounded about the same as Ray had put it. “Rumors have it that Ray wanted his relationship with Joel to flop from the beginning.”

“Did he?” Ryan prompts. This was more of what he was looking for. What Ray had really been trying to do or trying not to do.

“He put Joel in a position to have to choose. They say Ray might have pushed Adam and Joel together in the first place, too,” Lindsay shares. This isn’t entirely helpful, unfortunately. Ray had always been a tad self destructive, Ryan already knew that. Perhaps nothing to this extent, but all the same. Birds of a feather and all that.

“Thanks, Lindsay,” Ryan says, nodding his head a bit to her. Lindsay peers at him a little, likely knowing he hadn’t gotten what he wanted. However, she has nothing more to add. Admittedly, she had explained that all she knew was from rumors and as reliable as Republica rumors were, they were still rumors. If he wanted anything more, it would have to come from Ray. Or, theoretically, Joel and Adam.

“What do you know about Ray?” she asks. Ryan blinks. He knew she wanted information in return, but he hadn’t figured it would be about Ray. With some reluctance, Ryan turns his gaze away from her to watch out the window. They pass the same block a second time. He knows she wants the information likely for her own benefit, forwarding the ease of her job, but he also knows she’d sell it in a heartbeat if the right price came up.

“Not a lot,” he admits.

“Even after you loved him?” Lindsay murmurs.

“Even then,” Ryan agrees. “I don’t know why he disassociated nor am I aware of why Republica offered him a contract.” It’s unfortunately the truth. Ray had loved him, Ryan knows that now, but they hadn’t known each other shockingly long. Perhaps if Ryan hadn’t fucked up so royally, he would have gotten the chance to understand Ray better; to know him better. “What I do know is that he has potential and he has skill. Once he learns how to do something, you can officially claim yourself screwed. I showed him how to disengage a basic auto lock once and he was able to do it faster than me in a week's time. Then he used that information to disengage more advanced locks.”

“Does that extend to understanding people?” Lindsay questions.

“If they perform in a pattern, I suppose so, but overall, probably not. What Ray understands about other people is minimum and necessary. You saw him interact with Michael,” Ryan sighs. This all led to the same conclusion; Ryan should have never thought Ray would forgive him. “I’m not sure why you want to know this, Lindsay, but be careful. I consider you a good friend and I don’t want you to get hurt, either.”

“I appreciate that, Ryan,” Lindsay assures him, smiling at him affectionately. “But you understand that if your or Ray’s presence becomes unacceptably threatening to the crew’s survival; I will kill you.”

“Yeah,” Ryan answers passively. “I’m starting to get that. And, of course, you understand that you’ll never win a fight against me and I never against Ray.”

“Yeah,” Lindsay repeats, no less pleasant than she was to begin with. “I know.”

There’s no better friendship than that, Ryan guesses.

\- x -

Ryan debates now on whether he should even mention it; if it was even that big of a deal. The guilt gnawing away at his stomach assures him that it is. It’s a very big deal. At this point, he’s not even sure he regrets it. Everything had spiraled out of his reach before he understood really what he was doing. Regret or none, it was still a mistake. He had just- seeing Ray like that again had struck a nerve in him.

“Geoff,” Ryan speaks out plainly. Geoff rolls his head back, looking at Ryan over the edge of the bed. He sits as comfortably as he can on the floor, somewhat attentively watching the news that doesn’t cover them. Right now, that’s ideal. The tone in his voice, though Ryan doesn’t think it particularly unusual, gets the others’ attention as well. Gavin looks up to him from where he’s laid himself precariously over Geoff’s outstretched legs. Michael and Jack peer over from the little table that’s screwed into the motel room wall, away from the time consuming game of cards they pretend to play.

“What’s up?” Geoff replies, lowering his beer again to partake in whatever Ryan has to tell him. “Let it be good news. We gotta be due for some of that.” It’s not good news. Maybe, Ryan thinks, it’s not exactly bad news, either. Actually, it’s not really news at all.

“I kissed Ray.”

There's a pause Ryan had not expected. Honestly, they couldn't be surprised and he doesn't think they are. It was only a matter of time until he did something like this and they all knew it. They're thinking, then. He finds it odd that they wouldn't know how to react.

"You what?" Michael is the first to shout, dropping his cards all at once.

"When I found him in the garden," Ryan tries to explain. "I kissed him."

"Not the other way around?" Jack makes sure pointedly, perhaps wanting to give Ryan an out route. Ryan isn't going to pretend Ray had anything to do with it. He shakes his head slowly. Ray hadn't been surprised, either, but he'd been puzzled.

"Are we talking like full on tongue or fucking what?" Gavin yelps with a pitch in his voice.

"No," Ryan answers a bit quicker than intended. It hadn't been like that. "Just a normal kiss." Hardly even that, honestly, a brush above all else. Ray's bloody and split lips not even staining his own. Still, a kiss was a kiss.

"What the fuck, Ryan‽" Michael shouts. That's a good question and Ryan doesn't have an acceptable answer. He has to say something, doesn't he?

"It was instinct," he was explains weakly. "Automatic."

"It was fucking instinct to kiss your fucking ex on the fucking mouth?" Michael snaps back harshly.

"Yes," Ryan has to answer firmly. Seeing Ray like that again and remembering Ray in positions like that- he'd only done what he'd always done. Obviously that didn't make it right or excuse it, but it was an explanation at least. It wasn't like he did it to spite them.

"Do you still love him, Ryan?" Gavin asks. Ryan swallows. What was he supposed to say to that? He wasn't even sure for himself. Geoff's silence is more unnerving than anything else.

"I don't know," Ryan says limply. "I thought I might but you heard him; he was better off without me." They're upset because it was Ray. Had it been anyone else, this wouldn't have even been a conversation. It wouldn't have been an issue with anyone else. Ryan isn't to say that makes them wrong, the very opposite, in fact. There was still an off chance that Ray was playing them hard.

"That has nothing to do with whether you love him or not," Jack points out. No, it doesn't. However, Ryan doesn't see how it's a problem if there's no room for him to act on his feelings and there wasn't. He was happy. Whether he loved Ray or not, he'd never love him enough to ruin what he has. Geoff moves, pushing Gavin off his legs and getting to his feet. Ryan stands still.

"Do you still love him, Ryan?" Geoff repeats, coming to stand directly on Ryan's toes. He's not angry and it only makes Ryan feel worse.

"I don't know," Ryan says again. That is the truth.

"Do you still love us?" Geoff asks. The question takes Ryan aback. It always does. He'll never understand why they'd think they'd have to ask something like that. They don't understand how much they really mean to him.

"Of course," Ryan answers without hesitation. "Whether I feel any resemblance of love for Ray or not, that has nothing to do with how much I love you." Geoff watches his expression for a moment, hooded eyes dissecting his every emotion.

"Are we not showing you we love you enough?" Geoff inquires delicately.

"No," Ryan assures quietly, horrified and sad at the very idea of Geoff thinking something like that. "That's not it, Geoff. It's not like that." Geoff grabs the front of his shirt, yanking him forward just a bit. He doesn't say anything more, instead holding Ryan down to where he can be kissed easily. There's comfort in the kiss that soothes some of Ryan's worries. He hesitates, though.

"That's it?" he asks. "We're not going to talk about this?"

"We just talked about it, moron," Geoff grumbles back, grasping Ryan's jaw in his hand warmly. "Now we're doing something about it."

Ryan isn't completely content with the end of this discussion, but he feels no need to complain. He knows Geoff too well and quite honestly, perhaps their love life had faltered a little since Ray's arrival. Geoff's alternate reasons are much more clear than Ray's; possession.

There's something about Geoff's kiss, flavoured liked cheap whisky and weak beer, that Ryan longs for. It's not like he doesn't kiss Geoff frequently and plenty, it's simply that he can't get enough of it. Geoff's tongue against the ridges of his teeth and roof of his mouth makes Ryan sigh pleasantly with ease.

Ryan shifts his shoulders pliantly when Geoff pulls at his leather jacket, shrugging it off and leaving it on the floor where he stands. There's a short moment where Ryan instinctively doubles back to assure the door is locked. This isn't their apartment- not that their apartment is any safer now a days. Geoff grabs his face a bit harshly, yanking his attention back automatically. He's obviously not the only one with this in mind, though, and Michael deals with the door soon after.

"Geoff," Ryan murmurs as he grasps Geoff's wrist slightly. Geoff only digs his fingers in harder, putting enough pressure on Ryan's jaw to bruise. He rolls Ryan's head back to show off his throat and kiss along his Adam's apple affectionately.

"Hmm?" is the mild reply. Geoff's lips are warm against Ryan's skin and his tongue much too hot. Ryan licks his lips distantly, staring upward towards the ceiling as he focuses on Geoff's mouth movement. Teeth dig into his skin enough to puncture, little specks of blood appearing in place, and Ryan inhales hotly. 'Mine' it speaks without words. Geoff runs his tongue over the mark and Ryan can feel his knees weaken a little.

"Fuck," they know all his buttons. Geoff's fingers crawl along the edge of his shirt and his tattooed knuckles brush across his mid drift.

"Yeah, we're going to," Geoff replies, pushing Ryan's shirt up as he runs his hand across his stomach and chest. Ryan groans at the very mention. He moves largely only when Geoff moves him, clearly in no position to direct or influence anything here. This is not something he has a problem with at all. Geoff pulls his shirt off over his head and it's left on the dingy carpet with his jacket.

Ryan touches his throat with a few fingers, a sharp sting still lingers where Geoff had bitten him, and examines the red stain left on his fingers. Wow, Geoff had bit him hard. That was probably going to scar. Ryan swallows thickly and Geoff catches his lips again, nicking them hard between his teeth. Every mark, every touch, goes straight to Ryan's dick. Mine, mine.

Geoff grabs the back of his neck, directing him without pulling him. Ryan is guided toward Jack who remains seated at the little mounted table, watching on with quiet desire. Already, he's tinted red in the face, idly rubbing himself through his jeans. Geoff steps on the back of Ryan's calf, buckling his knees automatically.

"Down," he instructs and Ryan follows through. He drops a little hard, knees thumping against the floor as he braces himself on Jack's legs. Ryan looks up to Jack with a pleased smirk, rubbing a hand over the prominent bulge in his pants. Jack groans lowly, gripping the edge of the table tightly as he closes his eyes.

Without needing to be prompted, Ryan unsnaps the button of Jack's jeans and glides the zipper down agonizingly slow. He nuzzles Jack's hard on faintly through his boxers, pressing open mouthed kisses along the fabric.

"Dammit, Ryan," Jack breaths out. Ryan only grins though as Jack places an idle hand on the back of his head. Deliberate hands trace the outline of Jack’s cock, drawing him out of his boxers and immediately onto Ryan’s tongue. As he guides his tongue over the needy flesh, Jack groans and kneads his fingers into Ryan’s hair. Geoff returns to Ryan’s backside, hands coming at once to graze over Ryan’s stomach and down into the waistband of his jeans. Ryan exhales shakily, stroking Jack in one hand as he lies his head on Jack’s thigh. Warm kisses trail down his spine as Geoff palms his dick.

“Pay attention,” Geoff murmurs, suddenly grasping Ryan’s jaw and turning his head upright again. Ryan shudders a bit as he quickly returns to lavishing Jack’s erect cock with his mouth. He rolls his tongue over the slit, gathering up the drops of precum there before taking the head in his mouth. The natural salts sting his split lip. Geoff slips his free hand into the front of Ryan’s jeans as he kisses the crook of Ryan’s neck softly at first and then with bruising intent. When Jack strokes the back of his head warmly, Ryan dips his head to take more of his cock.

Ryan moves when Geoff grabs at his hips, being hoisted up enough to have his pants and boxers yanked down to his knees. Nails scrap the front of his legs as Geoff runs his hands back up to Ryan’s waist and little red lines rise in their wake. Geoff strokes his painfully erect dick in a casual rhythm, sending toe curling shakes down Ryan’s back. When Ryan pulls back a little, Geoff grabs his face rougher and forcibly directs his movement.

“It’s not going to suck itself, now is it, Ryan?” Geoff prompts suggestively. Ryan huffs slightly but he slides his hands up along Jack’s heavy thighs. He glances up at Jack who watches them longingly with heavy pants. It’s enough to pull a groan from Ryan’s lips.

“If you ask it nicely, you never know,” Ryan replies between breaths and he rolls his head in Geoff’s grasp.

“Don’t be a smartass,” Geoff grumbles as he jabs a pair of fingers between Ryan’s open teeth. Ryan runs his tongue over the digits, drooling around them wantingly. His head is guided back over Jack’s dick and he wraps his lips around it needily only to have Geoff holds him back. This urges a simultaneous groan from Ryan as well as Jack. Ryan reaches out with his tongue to lick what he can’t yet get to. Geoff bobs his head down with a firm gesture, pushing Jack’s dick all the way to the back of Ryan’s mouth.

“Oh god, Ryan,” Jack moans encouragingly. When Geoff lets him go, Ryan doesn’t hesitate to swallow Jack to the root. His throat spasms around Jack’s cock and he has to pull back to prevent from choking. Needing only a few shallow breaths to regain himself, Ryan dips back down with a bit more deliberation this time. He kneads his fingers against Jack’s legs as he takes his dick into his throat again.

“Calm down,” Geoff scoffs and Ryan almost thinks its directed at him. With his nose nestled against the coarse hairs at the base of Jack's groin, dick heavy in his throat, Ryan doesn't think he's not calm. "You'll get you damn turn." Speaking to the lads, then. Ryan's heart twists happily at the connotations; just waiting to be passed around and possessively marked by his boyfriends. Jack's grip on his hair tightens but he doesn't pull and he doesn't push, only groaning contently when Ryan swallows around him.

"You know he's just waiting for you to fuck his throat," Geoff says suggestively. Slick fingers trace Ryan's anus and he moans faintly, knowing every vibration is hitting Jack hard. Jack's cock slips from his throat as he withdraws, dripping with saliva and precum that strings to Ryan's lips. He strokes Jack faintly as he catches his breath again.

"I really am," Ryan confirms with a conniving smirk. Jack tilts his head back a little.

"Jesus," he breathes out, fisting a handful of Ryan's hair. Geoff thrusts a pair of fingers into him suddenly and Ryan sucks in a surprised breath. Jack takes the moment to pull Ryan down on his dick, rolling his hips up to meet the enveloping heat. Quickly, Ryan slackens, allowing Jack to fuck his mouth and throat as he desires. Easily on edge from the teasing, Jack is arousingly rough, pushing and pulling Ryan's head until his throat's raw.

Geoff's weight is unforgettable on his back, though, especially as he twists and turns his fingers until Ryan sees stars. A variety of bruises and bites litter the back of Ryan's neck and shoulders where Geoff doesn't seem to want to let go. Ryan doesn’t want him to let go.

When Jack gives him some breathing room, Ryan takes it. He coughs a little as a way to scratch the raw sensation left behind and breathes heavily but evenly. Jack and Geoff work together easily. Ryan groans faintly when Geoff withdraws his fingers and Jack directs his lips back to the head of his cock. Though his grip on Ryan doesn't loosen, Jack rolls his hips forward with less roughness than before.

Ryan shudders when Geoff's slick cock presses against his stretched hole. In the same motion, Jack pushes his dick deliberately slow down Ryan's throat. A whimper escapes from Ryan's lips and he has to make sure his elbows are planted solidly on Jack's chair to assure he can keep himself upright as Geoff thrusts into him. Geoff's groan is loud in his ear, his traveling hands taking purchase of Ryan's hips and waist snugly.

Without even being touched, Ryan is on edge. His dick is strained painfully against his belly, dripping generous beads of precum. He knows Geoff isn't going to touch him, not when Michael and Gavin are waiting to get their hands on him, and it's nearly unbearable. Geoff's pace is leisurely at best and each slow, deep thrust presses against every spot that makes Ryan tremble in pleasure. His nails dig into Ryan's skin, leaving curved bruises on top of the hand shaped ones already forming there.

Jack isn't nearly as yielding, groaning out faint curses with each twitch of the hips. He threads both hands into Ryan's hair and his hips stutter forward off rhythm. With an airy moan, Jack holds him down flush and shudders as he comes down Ryan's throat. Ryan swallows as necessary and when Jack's grip slackens, he pulls back, coughing kind of hard on the come that drips from his lips.

"Fuck, Ryan," Jack pants, stroking the back of Ryan's head lovingly. Ryan grins around the breath he struggles to regulate again, each of Geoff's increasingly quick thrusts causing a hitch in his lungs and making it all that more difficult. He moans openly and leans his head against Jack's thigh as Geoff fucks him.

"Geoff, Geoff," Ryan coos, voice hoarse and scratchy with every syllable. Geoff groans at the sound. He bites the back of Ryan's neck and once again, it's hard enough to draw blood. Ryan growls hotly as he arches into the sharp pain. Jack touches his face softly, his thumb tracing Ryan's red and bruised lips. The conflicting sensations cause Ryan to flutter his eyes closed.

Geoff climaxes with a low grunt, slicking Ryan's insides with liquid heat. Ryan struggles out a groan and he works his hips as if to get some friction on his aching cock. There is hardly a second between Geoff sliding out, come leaking down the inside of one of Ryan's legs, and the lads grabbing at him.

Ryan's pulled away from Jack impatiently as Michael attempts to drag him to his feet much too suddenly. His knees give out almost immediately but between Michael and Gavin, they hold him up easily. He hadn't expected to move so quickly. Gavin steps on his jeans to eagerly help Ryan out of them and Michael touches his hard on with light fingers. Ryan whimpers brokenly.

"Don't come yet," Michael insists. Ryan snorts a labored laugh.

"Easier said than done," he replies shortly with his cracked voice. They push and prod him into moving how they want, finally pushing him down on the bed belly up. The somewhat springy mattress is a relief to be able to relax on after being on his knees so long. Michael and Gavin go at Ryan's throat and chest ferociously, pinching his skin between their teeth and leaving greedy hickies around the ones left by Geoff.

Ryan runs a hand up Gavin's back and into his hair fondly. This seems to urge Gavin into biting him hard and Ryan inhales sharply. Michael runs a hand along his chest, brushing over the scar indented there none too secretly before his fingers wrap around Ryan's throat. Ryan tilts his head back against the bed to expose his neck willingly.

Gavin finally strokes his cock, showing him the much needed attention that makes Ryan groan, a noise that is cut short by Michael squeezing down on his windpipe. He doesn't hold long and Ryan sucks in a breath more of surprise than need. Michael kisses him aggressively, undoubtedly tasting Jack on his mouth, while Gavin coats Ryan's dick generously with lube.

Obviously having been busy on their own, Gavin gladly straddles Ryan's hips without need for further preparation. Bracing one hand on Ryan's leg, Gavin lifts himself over his strained cock. Michael applies pressure on Ryan's throat simultaneously with Gavin sinking vocally down on Ryan's dick. The shortness of breath makes Ryan's head swim much quicker than normal. This is likely why Michael is sure not to hold him for very long as much as Ryan wants him to.

Ryan grabs Michael's arm distantly in a gesture of nothing more than needing Michael closer. Michael bites his tongue, a snag that makes Ryan buck his hips automatically and yank a pleased shout from Gavin. There's no gradual with Gavin and he starts off on a fast pace immediately, crying out his exhilaration without restraint. Christ, the walls were so thin in this place, the whole building could probably hear him.

To Ryan's displeasure, Michael moves away from him, licking his lips as he sits upright. For a moment, he just watches Gavin bounce enthusiastically on Ryan's cock. However, when Gavin slows a bit and grins at him, Michael reaches over to touch his hard on gladly. Gavin grinds his hips down, pressing Ryan into that spot that makes him bite his lip and makes Ryan claw the bed.

Ryan tilts his head into the sheets, rolling his eyes back as he tries not to come right then and there. A shuddered breath leaves his lips as Michael's hand runs up the inside of his thigh. Gavin leans forward, shifting his hips to take Ryan as deep as he can and Michael thrusts a pair of fingers into Ryan's hole, slick with Geoff's come.

With a rural grunt, Ryan orgasms hard. He arches against the bed in impulse, lifting Gavin up a bit with his movement alone. Gavin laughs airily and paws at Ryan's chest as he rides him out unhurriedly.

"Bloody hell, that was shorter than usual," he comments. Ryan would like to be able to fathom an answer, he really would, but between the shortness on his lungs and his scrambled thoughts, all he manages is a noncommittal scoff. Gavin strokes himself off, panting as he takes pleasure in the feeling of Ryan's come flooding his insides. He climaxes over Ryan's stomach without a care and hums blissfully.

Gavin remains where he is for a moment, obviously not extraordinarily interested in moving, but while Ryan is content with this, Michael is not.

"Are you just going to fucking stay there all night or what? Move," Michael huffs indignantly. Gavin makes a small whine but slowly, he raises his hips to let Ryan's limp cock slides out. Ryan sighs warmly, catching his breath again. Michael nudges him over and Ryan moves with him, grasping Michael's hip contently as the lad presses against his back.

Gavin nuzzles against his front and his mouth traces the bite high on Ryan's throat with affectionate. Ryan croons contently when Michael's dick slides into his stretched hole and he begins to grind just ever so fondly against him. The bed shifts a little when Jack moves to rest beside Gavin.

Michael's breathe is heavy in his ear and Ryan twists enough to be able to kiss him again. He's more than happy to have Michael fuck him gently in the aftermath of his own orgasm, now only eased breathes between them. Gavin murmurs quietly by his chest as he is sandwiched close between Ryan and Jack.

Though the bed isn't nearly big enough to comfortably fit all of them, Geoff manages to squeeze onto the edge all the same. He runs his hands over Michael's hips and kisses his neck and ears casually. Ryan feels the tremble that runs through Michael's body when he comes with nothing but a quiet hiss on his tongue. Having no where to move to, Michael stays where he is, arms wrapped around Ryan in loose and tired grip and god knows whose legs where.

A calm quietness takes the room, what few noises there are consists of steadily evaporating pants and audible kisses. Ryan fully intends to sleep like this. There was no way anyone was moving, anyways. It's only after a handful of minutes when Ryan is beginning to drift to sleep that Geoff speaks.

"If you kiss Ray again, I'll cut your fucking tongue out, Ryan."

Ryan yawns though, largely unbothered by the threat Geoff would absolutely go through with. He knew Geoff too well.

"Bit morbid, don't you think?" he replies faintly. "You should really work on not being so jealous."

There's a beat where Geoff doesn't say anything else but Ryan can feel the small circles Geoff traces on his hip, following the bruise already fading purple.

"I love you, Ryan," he finally grumbles. "You asshole."

"I love you too, Geoff."

\- x -

Ryan is oddly alone when he wakes up. Even so, he can hear the voices of his boyfriends not far off and certainly not stressed out. In fact, it sounds like Gavin and Geoff are laughing. It's been a while since he's heard Geoff laugh. He almost wants to feel bad that he feels so much better now, but he argues with himself that he shouldn't.

So one of his needs is sex, there was nothing wrong with that. Obviously he wasn't the only one, either. Ryan rubs his face a little as he rolls out of the motel bed and onto his feet. He is pretty sore, of course, in more places than one. The door to the room is cracked slightly, allowing sound from the other room to travel in and sound from this room out.

"You awake, Ryan?" Jack calls, likely having heard the squeak of the springy mattress. Ryan runs his hands down his throat and collar to dislodge some of the residue from last night. He can feel the little series of scars right under his jaw, now scabbed over and painless.

"Yeah," he answers and his voice isn't entirely back to normal. "I'm up. Gonna take a shower."

"Lindsay and Kerry brought some clean clothes," Jack tells him from the hall. "Black bag."

"Thanks," Ryan replies. He hears the door close as he clearly doesn't need to be watched over now that he's awake and he makes for the bag. There's a few changes of clothes along with his personal goods; toothbrush, razor, deodorant, and so on. They won't be going home again for a while.

Ryan drags the duffel over to the bathroom, leaving it in the doorway as he starts up the crappy shower. It was clean at any rate and the water pressure was decent so Ryan couldn't ask for much more than that. He examines himself in the mirror, peering at the ridiculous amount of hickies and bruises settled on his skin. Geoff's bite mark sits high on the front of his throat where even the collar of his jacket wouldn't hide it. Of course, Ryan had no plans on trying to hide them, anyways.

On top of the hickies and bruises very obviously left by teeth, there is a fine plum colour from where Michael had grabbed his neck and the faint impression of hand prints where Geoff had gripped his hips. Was it any wonder he was sore? Not to mention the back of his throat is definitely bruised as well. His back side isn't in any better condition than his chest.

Ryan doesn't think his boyfriends of the jealous type. They could be jealous, clearly, but it wasn't a usual thing. He's fairly certain most of these marks weren't out of angry envy, either. They certainly spoke, though; mine, this is mine. Ryan laughs to himself.

It looks like he got into a very intense paintball game.

He hops in the shower and is pleased to find there's actually hot water in this place. For how long, he isn't sure so he makes quick work of cleaning himself up. Ryan feels better than he has since Ray arrived here and he thinks maybe he had been more concerned about his boyfriends ditching him than he wants to admit to. He was the reason they were in danger and he was the reason Ray stuck around. Could he really blame them if they got fed up and kicked him and his problems to the curb?

Ryan knows they wouldn't in the same way he knows he should just leave but he can't. He just knows a little better now. Maybe Gavin had the right idea; assurance was comforting.

Upon climbing out of the tub, Ryan grabs a motel towel and pats himself somewhat dry. The terry cloth is rough and scratchy, but it does the job well enough. It was unlikely they'd be staying here long, but perhaps the next motel could be something a bit nicer. He wraps the towel around his waist while he brushes his teeth and shaves, taking slightly more time that strictly necessary. He might as well use it while he had it, right?

Ryan dresses gladly. He'd been in the same clothes for at least three days now, after all. Boxers, right knife, left knife, pants, holster; vest, shirt, jacket. He sits on the edge of the bed to pull on his socks and shoes before examining his gun. Someone had obviously taken care of it since the time he'd put it down but he can't say for sure who, only that it's been cared for properly and not tampered with.

Just before he leaves the room, he pulls a fresh mask on and twists it to the back of his head for now. Nothing better than feeling clean and renewed.

When he exits the room, Ryan can hear Gavin laughing in another room. He glances down the hall to either side before heading into the room they've all migrated to. As he recalls, Ray was staying in this room. He's definitely still in this room.

"Oh Ryan! Ryan!" Gavin says loudly, a face splitting smile upon his lips. "Watch this!" He's crouched beside the only twin sized bed in the room and Ray is perched on the edge mysterious shirtless. Caleb's on the other side, though he doesn't seem to be there to treat Ray at the moment.

Gavin holds an empty shell to Ray's ribs and the piece of metal sticks to him immediately causing both Gavin and Caleb to burst into laughter again. Ray seems more amused by their amusement than he is about whatever they're laughing about. He's smiling, at least. Ryan arches a curious brow, though he smiles faintly at their enjoyment. He glances at Geoff and Jack who are sat by the window and then to Michael, seated across from Lindsay and her computer at the little mounted tabled. Everyone's seems to be in a good mood.

"Ray has metal ribs," Caleb says when he finally stops laughing enough. Ryan turns back to them as Gavin sticks another shell casing to Ray's front. "I had to run a current through him to stimulate his heart and-" he's cut off by his own laughter.

"Magneto," Gavin whispers and they both laugh all that harder. It urges a small chuckle from Ryan as well. Admittedly, that was pretty funny.

"They've been doing this all morning," Jack assures with a content smile. Ray had to still be really high to be putting up with this for that long. Or at all for that matter. Ryan looks him over, still bruised and bandaged, but in much better health than the day before. Much better mood, too, even if his eyes glass over a bit when he stares at Ryan's throat. Ray doesn't focus very long on the new decorations Ryan sports and the muted smile on his face never changes.

"It should wear off soon," Ray shrugs simply. He's talking to Ryan again and everything. Jesus, how much dust did Caleb give him?

"You have metal ribs now?" Ryan asks, clearing his throat a little when the words come out rough. He was certain Ray had all his ribs when they had parted ways.

"Like seventy percent of them got replaced," Ray answers, turning his eyes down as Gavin tosses a shell at him. It sticks and Gavin makes a gesture of success. "I shattered a bunch of them on a job and then again right after they healed so Gus got pissed off and just told the doctors to replace them with something I can't break."

"Huh," is all Ryan has to say. He couldn't imagine what Ray could have done to break his ribs like that twice, but he's not going to ruin the mood with pointless questions. It's not important enough to bother.

"Oh, right," Ray says suddenly and a bunch of warnings go off in Ryan's head. He has to remember Ray is still upset with him and anything he's doing could absolutely be a hoax. "Sorry about yesterday."

What.

"What?" Ryan replies suspiciously. Ray wouldn't apologise, he wasn't-

He wasn't in Republica anymore, either.

"You've changed," Ray murmurs with a nonchalant shrug. "I get that. You really are sorry about what you did and I guess I can't be mad at this Ryan for something that Ryan did." This was so weird. Ryan takes it all with a grain of salt, but Ray seems so sincere. It was hard to imagine why he wouldn't be.

"Yeah, you just surprised him, is all," Gavin assures with a dorky grin. "Plus he was in pain and really bloody tired, too."

"I have not been sleeping," Ray admits. "Like even less than usual. I'm pretty sure last night I slept more than I have since leaving Republica and that was only because Caleb knocked me the fuck out." It's a really good thing nothing woke him up.

"Uh, how much dust did you give him?" Ryan questions Caleb carefully.

"Dude, he's on three and a half dosages right now," Caleb promises.

"I'm so fucking high," Ray agrees.

"So basically, this all means jack shit if he comes down and decides to cut your throat after all," Geoff assures him. He isn't wrong. It's no wonder he sounded so convincing. Still, dust shouldn't make him act that much different than normal. Perhaps a little calmer, calm enough not to rip Ryan's throat out on a dime, but it's not like it would make him apologise if he didn't intend to. Granted, Ryan's also pretty sure two was the maximum amount of dust a person should have.

"Is that safe, Caleb?" Ryan asks warily in his hoarse voice.

"I'm surprised he's still alive," Caleb answers. "But he is still alive."

"And you're a P2 nurse?" Ryan murmurs scathingly. Caleb shrugs.

"Republica has been cutting dust for a couple years now," Ray says simply. "It's not as strong as it used to be." Right, that made him feel better. Ryan has to believe him, though, as Caleb is right and Ray's still alive. He was pretty small, too, so they had to be diluting it something fierce. "But anyways, at ease?"

Before, Ryan couldn't be at ease with Ray because it meant a clean slate. It meant forgetting everything that had happened between them, the good and bad, and starting over. He couldn't do that because no one ever forgot the bad and he knew it would sit and fester until it became volatile. Things were different now. Ray was different and maybe that wasn't as bad as Ryan thought it was. He had to be different to even consider forgiving Ryan without getting even.

"Yeah," Ryan agrees calmly, moving forward to shake Ray's out stretched hand. "We can be at ease."

"And friends, if you can still have those," Ray murmurs teasingly, glancing at Geoff out the corner of his eye. Ryan laughs a little.

"I'll have to talk it over with the boss," he jokes back.

"Boss says he can be convinced with bourbon," Geoff states pointedly. "The good shit, too, not whatever crap Kerry pulled out of a fucking vending machine." Geoff's is certainly in a better mood, too, which Ryan is far more pleased about. He just needed to know he wasn't losing Ryan in the same way Ryan needed to know. No one was losing anyone.

They were just gaining Ray.

"Well, that was a cute little heart to squishy heart," Lindsay says with a delighted grin. "The video has finished downloading, though. Finally. The internet in this place is super shitty."

"Video?" Ryan prompts. He was rather done with videos.

"The boys wanted to see the footage from your and Ray's last job," Lindsay explains. Ryan's heart drops. She was still active, of course she had access to that. Ryan can't believe he had forgot that. "Is that a problem?"

 _Yes_. Hey Lindsay, maybe don't show the crew the video that started this long chain of events in the first place. Hiya Lindsay, do you think you couldn't make me relive one of the worst times of my life? Hi Lindsay, _what the fuck_?

"I suppose not," Ryan says and he's glad he can blame his sore throat for the way he croaks when he speaks. Lindsay flashes him a smile. _How had he forgotten that_? She turns her laptop on the table to face the screen out into the room and everyone moves around to get a good look. Right, of course now was the perfect time for this. Why wouldn't it be?

Ryan looks at Ray but Ray isn't incredibly interested. He flicks the casings off of his ribs and quickly pulls a shirt on before joining everyone else. This was going to be a short lived friendship, Ryan could tell already. Ray would remember how bad Ryan had fucked up and wisely go back to keeping them at arms distance.

He couldn't say he wanted his boyfriends to ever see this, either. They knew things about him, horrible things, but actually seeing it happen was different.

But, they would understand, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you didn't think we'd really finish this without some graphic sex scene did you? [also look out for a side story full of them sweet sweet R&R connection that should be out before next weekend called Origami] things get super real next time with some more joel and adams. thanks for reading everyone.


	10. Says Leave It Alone

Ryan had never seen the video for himself. Perhaps he had even convinced himself it wasn't a very long one. That's not really the case. It's as long as it needs to be at any rate. The video quality isn't the best but Ryan recognises the angle as being filmed from a laptop's out facing camera. Seeing it happen brings the memory all too well to the front of Ryan's mind.

It cuts in on him immediately and Ryan remembers. He had just opened the laptop up to search for the files he needed only to find it password locked, of course. They needed the physical copies for the job but he had to make sure to wipe any digital trace of them from the last few months as well. Their target, a man only slightly older than Ryan at the time, lies face down on the hardwood floors. He's bound tight, his arms strapped together in three separate places with zip ties and knees tied together with nylon rope. Ryan and all his masked glory crouches beside him.

"You understand I'm going to get into the safe anyways, don't you? Your thousands of dollars wasted on that thing isn't going to keep me out," Ryan insists, pulling the man's head up off the floor to look at him. He sneers angrily, nose broken and mouth bloody already. Like many before him, this was not a man Ryan had been kind to.

"You'll be sorry," he growls and attempts to jerk himself free. Ryan laughs lowly, pulling the man's hair harder and craning his head back to subdue his movement.

"Threatening me doesn't make me want to leave you alive, Mr. Malley," Ryan promises. "Look, telling me that safe code makes it easier for me and painless for you. No one said I have to kill you." Malley struggles viciously as he tries to do something to get away. Even if he could break free, though, he wasn't smart enough to run and wasn't skilled enough to beat Ryan in a fight. They had known that going in. Ryan bashes Malley’s face into the floor, cracking his nose again and splashing blood across the wood flooring and Ryan’s shoes. It stuns Malley a little bit.

"And that computer isn't as safe as you think it is. Sure, it'll take me some time, but that just gives me more time to 'talk' to you. I'm trying to be reasonable about this," Ryan persuades. Behind his mask, his expressions are hidden, but he's smiling. He's smiling because he never planned on being reasonable. The only reason he needed to hurt Malley was because he could.

"Bite me," Malley snaps, spitting a mouthful of blood against Ryan's mask. Ryan simply drops Malley’s head and rests his hand on his knee with a small, disappointed sigh.

"You know, I've heard human flesh is supposed to have a unique taste," Ryan muses. "Maybe I'll take you up on that." Behind them, the door slowly opens and casts a stream of light into the dark office. Ryan peers back and Malley lifts his head quickly, glancing over his shoulder to view the new face; Ray. A younger version of Ray, admittedly.

Wow, he looks so young back then. Ryan feels his heart ache a little. He had forgotten that Ray’s resting face hadn’t always been so unapproachable and cold; that his smile hasn’t always been so forced and stiff. He’d forgotten everything he loved so much about Ray and it makes him feel ill all over again. When he had began to trust Ray, really, honestly trust him, Ryan had known that Ray would change but he’s not sure he knew he would be the one influencing those changes.

"Oh thank god, Ray," Malley says in relief on screen. Ray flickers the light in the office on and gives Ryan a questioningly look. "Quickly Ray, slaughter this freak and get me out of here."

"What's with you and not turning lights on?" Ray asks in an amused tone. There is nothing to suggest that he has any interest in doing anything Malley says. In fact, Ray seems perfectly content with ignoring him all together. Ryan shrugs a little and Malley stares on in confusion.

"What? I-" Malley bumbles incredulously, clearly not understanding why Ray isn't helping him already. This was a game Ray played so well. He’d certainly played it well enough to fool Ryan and he hadn’t even been playing Ryan.

"Ambiance," Ryan replies fondly as he flares his hands out to gesture to their surroundings vaguely.

"Seriously?" Ray snorts, entering the room and closing the door behind him. "Drama king."

"The best," Ryan agrees. Ray heads for the safe without hesitation, just barely in frame of the video. He begins spinning the combination with skilled fingers like he already knows what he’s doing. With all the time he’s spent with Malley, he has a good bases of where to start.

"You're working with this guy, Ray?" Malley demands and he sits still only for a moment before squirming again. Ray looks back on him passively as if he had forgotten Malley was even there and Ryan turns his head down. "What the fuck, Ray!"

"He's a noisy one, isn't he?" Ryan murmurs. Ray nods and turns back on the safe, making a talking gesture with one hand as he jiggles the safe door with the other. It doesn't open.

"All the time, man, just talking away," he scoffs as he continues to test various combinations with similar results. It doesn’t deter him in the slightest, though.

"I loved you!" Malley shouts. This causes Ray to pause again and he glances over his shoulder with a brow cocked in amusement.

"Dude, you carved your initials into my back. Did you really think that was love or?" comes the cold reply. Ray was very obviously done with this guy's shit. Ryan grabs Malley's face hard, yanking his head to the side.

"I don't think I like how you've treated my partner, Malley," he says irritability. "That wasn't very nice."

"Screw you and your whore partner!" Malley spits, trying to twist his head out of Ryan's grip. "You fucking bitch! I thought you loved me! We were going to get married!"

"He's like this basically all the time," Ray assures Ryan with a malicious grin. "It was pretty easy to get everything I needed." Ryan remembers this moment clearer than the rest. He remembers what he thinks as he looks at Ray's back with anything but a smile; I thought you loved me. Ray opens the safe with a delighted noise on his tongue.

"You think you can get away with this? You're breaking my heart! I'll find you, Ray, you fucking slut!" He just kept going on and on, of course Ryan got sick of it. He pulls the man upright a bit to give him less anchor to struggle against. Ryan reaches behind him, drawing one of his knives from under the cover of his shirt, and twirls it around his fingers.

He holds Malley's face still and the man wisely freezes at the sight of the blade. Ryan presses the tip against one corner of Malley's mouth and he goes eerily quiet. If he had shut up a little sooner, they wouldn't have had a problem. Carefully and slowly, Ryan cuts the corner of Malley's mouth and causes even more blood to flow down his chin and pool on the floor in dark puddles.

"Here's something interesting I bet you didn't know, there's this technique called the glasgow smile. How it works is you cut the corners of your victim's mouth-" Ryan gestures to the slice he's just made with the end of his knife. "And then you make them scream and the cut rips along their cheeks like they're smiling. Interesting, huh?"

Ray smiles faintly as he watches from the background, likely pleased by Ryan’s defending him. Even if Ray really didn’t need it. Ryan hadn't seen that. Admittedly, his mask cut off some of his peripheral vision. Would that have changed his mind at the time, though? Would anything have?

"So you'll want to be real quiet now, Mr. Malley, because if you yell-" Ryan makes a gesture over his mask with both hands like he's pulling the strings to a smile. Malley swallows nervously. "You understand. Now, if you want to whisper real softly your computer password to me, maybe I'll sew that up for you."

Even then, Malley remains silent. It had been worth a shot, at least.

"Try Mr. Ray Malley, twenty oh eight," Ray instructs. Ryan looks up at him for a moment before moving away from Malley and out of camera view. "Ray in all caps. It's the password he uses on his home computer."

Behind the laptop, Ryan laughs pleasingly. Malley rolls his head down angrily, making it obvious that Ray's guess wasn't incorrect.

"Oh Malley," Ryan sighs. "You should know better than that." As Ryan goes to work on the laptop, Ray empties out the safe. Most of it doesn't interest him, though. He throws several stacks of cash onto the floor, examines an unloaded handgun before tossing it away, and throws a ring box at the back of Malley's head. There's a little bag of white dust, though, that he dips his finger into to taste before dropping it in the messanger bag hooked around his neck. When the safe is empty, Ray feels along the wall of the inside. Knowing exactly what he's looking for, he uncovers a small panel and pulls out the file folders hidden inside.

"Got 'em," Ray announces. He flips the first one open and scans over the pages shortly. "This is Griffon Ramsey's real file. We're good to go." He puts it in his bag before turning his attention to the other documents to assess them as well. There was never any harm in overachieving, after all.

"I'm going to need a couple more minutes," Ryan insists. There was no real hurry, honestly. No one was going to be missing Malley for a very long time and they hadn’t triggered any alarms. This was to be done at their leisure. "What else do you have there?"

"Looks like Geoff Ramsey, Daniel Gruchy, Jack Pattillo and, pft, Ryan Haywood," Ray snorts a laugh. He shoves all but the last one in his bag, quickly reading over Ryan's file before bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

"Ray?" Ryan questions suspiciously.

"Jesus, this is that fake profile I made you! The one that reads 'never gonna give you up' if you ready the first letter of every sentence and the fucking email redirects you to meatspin," Ray laughs hard and Ryan offers an amused chuckle, but it's forced at best. He doubles over on himself momentarily, trying to catch his breath again. If Ryan had ever any doubt that Ray had been completely blindsided by his actions, this removed all of them. "Oh god. This is great."

"Are you ready to go?" Ryan questions pointedly. Ray wipes fake tears from his eyes and nods.

"Yeah, yeah. We can go," he promises as he adds the folder to his bag and zips it up tight. He approaches Malley again, crouching beside him with a grin still plastered on his face. Malley glares at him angrily, likely wanting to shout something but thinking better of it.

"You'll fucking pay for this," is all he hisses instead, blood flying from his lips with every syllable. Ray pats the back of his head faintly. With one hand, he fishes a very intricately carved butterfly knife from his pocket. He turns it around in his hands, spinning the blade open, and immediately digs it into the base of Malley's skull with a forceful jab. For a moment, Ray simply holds it there, cradling Malley delicately in the last few seconds it takes for his life to fade away. When he yanks it free, blood heavily coating the blade and his hand, Malley goes dead limp. Ray rubs most of the blood off on Malley's shirt before pocketing his knife again.

"Let's go," Ray grins and the video cuts off abruptly as Ryan shuts the laptop down. Ryan almost beings to think he's lucky enough for that to be it but he's not. The video returns from the view of a different camera, this one darker but the image is still clear. There’s Ryan standing at the base of a ladder, clearly in some sort of underground system. It's where the trains pass through.

A bag drops down and Ryan catches it. He stares at it for a long few seconds as Ray slides down the ladder next. Instead of handing it back, though, Ryan throws the bag over his shoulder. Ray looks at him curiously, but he doesn't dedicate much thought to it. Why would he have? The two of them head down the tunnels quickly, the camera changing every time they get too far away.

Until Ryan stops. Ray peers back at him, slowing to a halt when he realises something's wrong.

"Ry?" he murmurs carefully. "What's up?"

"Well," Ryan replies. When he reaches for his gun, so does Ray. It has to be automatic, though. There's no way Ray had been expecting this. "There doesn't have to be two of us."

Ray shoots first.

He doesn’t even get his gun pointed completely before Ray gets his first, and only, shot off. Ryan almost seems surprised by the way he stops so slowly, though it's impossible to be certain due to his mask. He drops his gun in order to press on the hole in his chest with both hands, coughing up blood that drips from underneath his mask.

"Ryan why?" Ray says sadly, lowering his gun like he hadn’t wanted to raise it in the first place. "Ryan please."

Ryan doesn't have any memory of the rest of the video. It's as new to him as it is to everyone else. Ray struggles to get the bag from under Ryan's limp body and runs off down the tunnel with it. The camera follows him as opposed to watching Ryan bleed out of the ground. At the tunnel entrance, there's a van waiting. Ray throws the bag with the files in it into the front and grabs a jerry can from the back before running back into the tunnel.

When he gets back to the scene, he quickly starts douses Ryan's body in gasoline. Halfway through, though, he stops. Angrily, Ray throws the partially full container down on Ryan with all the strength he can muster. That's probably how his ribs and arm broke.

"God dammit Ryan!" he shouts. He kicks the jerry can away and rubs the back of his head with both hands. Weakly, he sighs, "God dammit, Ryan."

Ray grabs the front of Ryan's shirt and drags him a few feet away before stopping again. He checks the time, glancing for any off schedule trains, before lowering himself down enough to pull Ryan's dead weight onto his back. With some effort, Ryan being much bigger than the tiny, younger Ray, he hauls Ryan out of the tunnel.

It takes him some effort to get Ryan, still bleeding out fast and now soaked in gasoline, into the back of the van. Ray hops in to drag him all the way into the back and strap him down before climbing back out and slamming the door closed. He rips it open just so he can slam it closed again, instantly falling into a violent moment of repeatedly beating the van door open and closed.

"Shit!"

When Ray finally climbs into the driver's seat, van lights blinking on, a number flashes in the lower corner of the screen and then 'Job Complete'. There's no more video. Ryan doesn't know what to say but neither does anyone else. There isn’t much to say, fairly. Ray's eyes are cast to the ground, nose wrinkled a bit in discontent. He hadn’t wanted to watch this any more than Ryan had. Neither of them would ever admit to that, though.

"Well," Geoff finally says. "That answered zero questions."

"No shit," Michael grumbles. "No argument or nothin'. You just stone cold tried to shoot him out of the blue."

"Imagine how I felt," Ray snorts a forced laugh. This leads into an awkward silence, everyone now feeling a little guilty. Now knowing the truth, this is probably a hundred times worse for Ray. If he had known then what he knows now, maybe he would have left Ryan there or, rather, burned him.

"Thank you," Ryan murmurs as gently as his damaged voice can manage. Ray looks at him without expression. It’s a look Ryan has gotten used to being directed at him over the short few weeks. "For giving me a second chance."

"Fool me once," he replies with a pressed lip smile and nonchalant shrug. Maybe it's a joke and maybe it's not. Maybe Ray is saying he won't be fooled by Ryan again.

Or maybe he's saying something else.

"There was a file on Daniel Gruchy there?" Gavin asks suddenly. Ray looks at him with puzzlement before considering it a moment and nodding. Ryan greatly doubts it was something Ray had thought about at the time. They had been there for Griffon’s file and only her file. Everything else had been by product and didn’t interest them in the slightest. Ryan certainly hadn’t given it a second thought.

"I think so," Ray agrees. It was on video, of course, but video can be faked. "Why?"

"I worked with a Dan Gruchy," Gavin says. "We were sort of like partners. In MI6 I mean. We were- we were actually really good friends. I still feel kind of bad for just abandoning him like I did," he admits with a pointed frown. Ray glances at Ryan slightly before turning back to Gavin.

"You think it's the same Dan?" Jack questions. Surely it had to be incredibly unlikely that Gavin’s Dan and this Dan were the same person. That has to be a serious of extremely unlikely events.

"I dunno," Gavin murmurs. "Do you remember anything on that file, Ray?"

"I didn't really retain that information, sorry," Ray shrugs. "Did he have anything to do with Griffon?"

"Did Ryan?" Geoff asks pointedly. That was a really good question actually. Why had Malley even wanted information on Ryan? He shouldn't have even known about Ryan enough to get information on.

"Coincidence?" Ray suggests. "Either way, that was six years ago. It doesn't really matter now." Gavin nods a small agreement but he chews on the inside of his cheek nervously. That is kind of weird, honestly. Ryan is starting to get the idea that things were suspicious.

\- x -

Gavin nearly spits red bull out his nose when the door to their motel room opens. Michael gives him an odd look but Gavin's laughing much too hard to vocalize any sort of reply. He has to put his drink down, reaching for something to cover his mouth with before instead hurriedly swallowing his mouthful. Michael glances over his shoulder, immediately understanding Gavin's laughter and joining him loudly.

"Jesus Christ, Ray!" Gavin manages out finally. "What the hell is that?" Ray looks at him with an arched brow before examining the bow he has in his hands. That was not what Gavin was laughing about.

"Holy shit!" Michael woofs, banging a hand on the table. It gets the gents attention from the other side of the room and they peer over curiously. Geoff wolf whistles. Ray does not understand why they're so amused by his compound bow.

"Not that, you pleb!" Gavin assures him gladly. "Why're you wearing a bloody skirt?" Ray glances down at his black skirt, a bit loose on his hips but nice and flowy around his legs. It's long enough to cover his knees and that's about it.

"Lindsay let me borrow it," Ray answers.

" _Why_?" Michael asks between jagged laughs and gasps for air.

"Lads," Jack scolds them quietly. "His fucking leg's broken." This does hush their laughing a little bit. Ray's leg is still in a cast, after all, and Caleb says it's going to be for another couple days at least. He doesn't trust Ray not to strain the injury and keeping him in a cast not only keeps him slow but keeps his stitches from inadvertently popping open.

"Oh, I get it," Gavin comments a little more seriously. "I guess it would be difficult to get your trousers on with a cast and everything." Michael still laughs, though, trying to smother it in his hand. It makes Gavin snicker some more. There was just something inherently funny about seeing someone like Ray in a skirt.

"If that makes you feel better, sure," Ray agrees with a shrug. This stops them from laughing all together.

"Well I mean, it's not like you want to wear a skirt, right?" Gavin prompts.

"Nah, skirts are great," Ray assures him. Gavin's not sure if he's being sincere right now. "You should try it." That was definitely a joke, right? Gavin glances at Ryan curiously and Ryan shrugs like he isn't sure. Jack presses the conversation on to more important things.

"What's the bow for?" he questions with interest. Ray holds it up a little for better viewing, clearly glad that someone’s paying attention to it.

"I'm going to go raid an airplane hangar full of cocaine."

"Uh," Geoff says slowly. He was going to do what? "Firstly, _why_? Secondly, you're going to do that with a fucking bow?"

"I'm not only bringing a bow," Ray assures him fleetingly. Not that any of them would really be surprised if he tried to take out a bunch of guys with some arrows. That definitely sounded like something Ray would do and probably succeed at.

"Ray, we can get you some coke if that's what you want," Ryan promises. Of course they could. Just because they were having some issues with Republica didn't mean they didn't still have their connections and their goods. There was a warehouse laying around full of drugs with their tag on it somewhere. Gavin wouldn't have taken Ray as a cocaine user, that was for sure.

"Yeah, you don't have to go through that trouble," Jack agrees. Geoff seems a little irritated by the idea but that's likely only because the last thing they needed was Ray being coked out while they were already in a pretty bad position. Now didn’t really seem like the time to be scratching that kind of itch.

"I don't want the coke," Ray says passively, as if that should be obvious. "Look, you guys said you have a hard time trusting me when I go and handle shit without you. So here I am. Telling you what I'm doing. Hoping you're not going to fuck it up." Rude.

"This has something to do with Joel?" Ryan inquires. Ray shrugs a bit like he isn't entirely sure yet. If they could shake Adam and Joel off their tails before they relaid their information, that would be ideal. However, that seems fairly unlikely at the moment considering even Ray was at a disadvantage right now. He just doesn’t have the same access to information that he used to while Joel and Adam do.

"Maybe. I think these guys might be the ones that hired them to get information. I'm going to have a talk with their boss man and see if I can end the contract. Are you guys going to come with me or?" Ray offers. He's clearly more than capable of handling it himself and likely doesn't even want their help but he's also still hurt. Whether he's telling them this because he knows he's hurt or if he's legitimately reaching out to get them to trust him more is unclear.

Gavin wants to think his intentions are good and he really does. Ray's a little scary, sure, but not any scarier than Ryan had been when they met. In fact, Ryan was a hell of a lot scarier. Ray is just adjusting is all. He needs time to understand he wasn't in Republica and they weren't his enemies. Or rather, that Geoff wasn't.

When Geoff wasn't around, Ray was significantly less hostile and antisocial. He trusted Jack enough to let the gent care for his wounds which really had to be saying something. He seems to have come to a mutual understanding with Michael and they'll converse quietly though it's generally when they're alone. Gavin was very insistent on treating Ray like one of the team and for the most part, Ray reacted to his friendliness gladly and openly.

It was really just Geoff. Ray even seems to have forgiven Ryan now.

"Yeah," Geoff finally grumbles after a silent argument had with Jack. "We're coming, too."

"Okay. Cool," Ray says with a casual quirk of a smile. He stands a bit unsure, like he isn't used to being so open with his plans with so many people. That's probably true. A large part of him not openly working with them had to be because he didn't know how to coordinate so many people. He has never, and still didn't, need this many people. Ray points over his shoulder a bit, gesturing to the door.

"I'm going to go finish getting ready, then? I had Kerry bring one of your unmarked vans so, uh, I'll just meet you guys out back in thirty?" he suggests with an awkward sort of shrug.

"Yeah, thirty," Geoff agrees. Ray nods shorty before turning, dumb skirt twirling with the motion, and exiting the room. Gavin grins broadly. This was progress.

"Does he seem different to you guys?" Jack murmurs a few moments after Ray leaves.

"This is," Ryan says somewhat sadly. "This is more what he was like before. What I remember at least." Gavin knows he feels so guilty over what he did to Ray but there was only moving forward now. Even if Ryan didn't think so, he could still make it up to Ray somehow.

"He's bloody warming up to us," Gavin assures. "He's made peace with Ryan and now he's ready to move on."

"Or," Geoff drags on pessimistically. "Realising there's two real Republica agents after him made him finally understand he's not with them any fucking more and now he's taking our help seriously."

"You're both probably right," Ryan comments off handedly. "Ray has made peace with himself, I think, and that's allowed him to see that while he'd be able to thrive alone in a sprint, he'll survive much longer with us in the long run."

"We're helping him as much as he's helping us, whether he's smart enough to fucking see that or not," Michael agrees.

"Well, we certainly will survive a lot longer with him so it's a good thing he has a reason to hang around," Jack says with a slight sigh. As much unease that Ray had brought, he hadn't really steered them wrong yet.

"I think this is obvious already, but I need to make sure," Ryan states in a way that is made to brings everyone's attention to him. "If Ray leaves, or dies, or- anything, I won't stay here. I won't stay around you guys."

To some degree, they all knew that, of course. Ryan was the kind of guy who would hurt them directly before he let them get hurt by association. Admittedly, that was a bit concerning in some ways, but they all knew that if it came down to it, Ryan wouldn't hesitate to cut all ties with them.

"I won't, and I say won't because at some point, Ray is going to get tired and he will give up and he will basically feed himself to the enemy- I won't let you guys die because of me," Ryan assures. It seems like at one point, Ryan would have sold their souls for a packet of crisps but if there was, Gavin doesn't remember it.

"Well then we better get a fucking move on and make sure Ray doesn't get his face popped off, shouldn't we?" Geoff says pointedly. "Preferably before he realises he's made a mistake and leaves without us."

"He might do that," Ryan adds on with a confirming nod. Everyone hops into action swiftly, gathering up their goods and preparing their guns and ammunition systematically. They've raided coke houses before but honestly, they probably could have been a little better at it. They got things done in much the same way that hammering a nail in by throwing an entire toolbox at it eventually got done, but they maybe worked better not together.

Ray certainly understands this.

Even so, he is waiting by the van for them when thirty minutes comes and goes. He doesn't seem to have mind them being a bit tardy, fortunately. It was going to happen a lot. Instead, Ray only looks to them expectantly when they approach.

"Jack, you drive. Everyone else; in," Geoff instructs, pulling the back of the van open and letting everyone pile in. Gavin's not sure Ray is going to like Geoff trying to take control of this but surprisingly enough, Ray goes along without a word. The lot of them plop into the back and Jack takes the driver's seat.

"What happened to your skirt, Ray?" Gavin asks teasingly. Ray has changed out of his girly get up in favor of baggy jeans and a hoodie, proving that he was, in fact, capable of getting his cast into a pair of pants. He shrugs.

"Didn't think you guys would appreciate seeing my dick in motion," Ray promises. Fair point.

"God no," Geoff says blandly.

"Well," Michael murmurs like he doesn't entirely agree. Geoff pretends not to have heard but Ray smirks with the information well received.

"Where are we going, Ray?" Geoff prompts.

"Airstrip. You know where they store the Titan? They should be in there," he explains. Jack nods his understanding from the front, already marking their course in his head as he pulls out of the motel parking lot.

"Who's they?" Geoff continues.

"Looks like mob members. From Michael's family, but not associated. 'Member when I took that dude's head off? Yeah, well, his buddies didn't like that," Ray says matter-of-factly. Of course they weren't happy about that. He clearly hadn't thought that through all the way. "Thirty, easily. I only need to talk with one of two people, alive preferably but I could work with their phones in a pinch."

Ray pulls out his phone to show Geoff a pair of profile pictures. When Geoff nods, agreeing that he’s dedicated their faces to his memory, Ray shows everyone else. It's no one Gavin is familiar with but he had fallen off the D.O.G. case when Michael had disappeared. Honestly, Gavin had never really cared that much about the rest of the family anyways.

"That's Ridley and Kraid," Michael informs plainly. "Mean motherfuckers. Here's a protip for ya, don't let Ridley scratch you with those fucking nails of her's. She used to lace them with LSD, god knows what she does now."

"Rumor is that it's some kind of jellyfish venom. So yeah, try not to get too close. Won't kill you but, man, ever been stung by a jellyfish?" Ray assures with a mild shudder. Gavin is both interested and horrified.

"Okay, here's the plan," Geoff begins and he pauses a moment as if expecting Ray to argue. He doesn't. Not even a little bit. Ray simply watches on, awaiting further instruction. This, obviously, confuses Geoff a little. He continues on but not without his suspicions. "Jack, you stay back with Ray and the van. Ray will snipe them from a distance and lure the rest of them out." Ray nods. This was absolutely him trying to be friends with Geoff.

"Right. Okay," Geoff says slowly before moving on. "Michael and Ryan will head in through the back door. Get that plane destroyed ASAP. I don't want them off the ground."

"Anal brigade. Got it," Michael confirms.

"Uh, kinda hard to talk to burned bodies and their phones do need to be sort of intact," Ray mentions idly.

"Easy on the explosives, assholes," Geoff sighs. Oh right, that was going to happen. When did their crew ever go easy on the explosives?

"Well that's no fun," Ryan grumbles.

"Gavin, you and I are going to hit the target. Because women in deadly nail polish scare me, we'll take Kraid. Got it?" Geoff looks to him pointedly. Gavin agrees without complaint. Ladies in jellyfish nail polish also scare him, so that was something they could agree on.

"Understood, Geoff," Gavin grins.

"Ray, Michael, these guys aren't going to be happy to see you so try to keep low. We don't want any funny business," he says, gesturing to the pair of them slightly. The way Michael reacts makes it pretty clear that he’s not going to make any attempt to stay low. He wouldn’t pick a fight, this time, but he definitely wasn’t going to avoid one.

There was no way Ray needed their help on this. He could most definitely take the entire hangar out from a distance and incapacitate Ridley and Kraid without getting near them. It's understandable why Geoff is wary. Ray either knows something he doesn't or isn't planning on going through with the plan after all. Or maybe it wasn't that important and it didn't matter if they screw it up.

Gavin watches as Ray makes a final check on his rifle, loading it with a cartridge from his hoodie pocket and shining a few smudges with his sleeve. When he notices Gavin watching, he smiles faintly. Not everything he did had to have ulterior motives, right? People couldn't function like that. Gavin grins back.

"You're wearing your glasses again," Ryan speaks to Ray quietly. Gavin hadn't even noticed. Ray in glasses was a lot more reasonable than Ray in a skirt, after all. Priorities man.

"Kind of hard to put contacts in with-" Ray holds one of his hands out, the limb shaking without his control. They learned something new about him everyday, didn't they?

"Withdraw?" Ryan questions with slight grimace.

"Sort of," Ray agrees. Gavin nearly laughs. Ray was definitely human.

"Is that going to affect your shot?" Geoff asks, nodding his head toward Ray's hand. Ray pulls back with a nervous adjustment of his shoulders. He pockets his hand briskly.

"Nah," is the short reply.

"Dude, if you're too fucked up to shoot straight, just say something. Michael can stay back and snipe," Geoff argues.

"I said it wouldn't affect my shot, Geoff. What do you want from me?" Ray scoffs irritably.

"Telling us what we're really getting into would be a great start," Geoff answers sarcastically. Ray glances at him halfly before shifting again and slouching back against the van wall. "Yeah, that's what I thought. How 'bout you tell us the full story here, asshole."

"Joel and Adam might be here," Ray says simply.

"Oh great!" Geoff cries in false enthusiasm. "That didn't seem important to mention?"

"Not really," he grumbles back. "They're nonaggressive. Even if they are there, they're not going to fight. Joel will see us coming from a mile away and probably high tail it out of there."

"Ryan," Geoff says sharply, demanding his input on Ray’s information. Ryan considers it unpleasantly.

"If they've just been hired to fetch information, then yes. Joel would flee confrontation without alerting anyone. We don't actually know what their contract details, though," he reminds them. Either way, it doesn't sound like Joel or Adam would fight them head on. Wasn’t that why they weren’t worried about Republica in the first place? No one in their right mind would challenge Ryan and Ray to a fight when they had everything and nothing to lose.

"Well, as long as they're not going to chase you down, what does it matter?" Gavin inquires pointedly. "So what if they know we're coming. It's not like we're the quietest bunch, anyways."

"Pretty sure we've gone into worse fights with red alarms already going," Michael murmurs off handedly.

"Right," Geoff snips irritably. "So it's fine he didn't mention it. Of course."

"We'd just get worked up over it, Geoff," Ryan insists.

"Adam and Joel are pretty scary," Gavin agrees, nodding quickly. "Kinda wish I didn't know they might be there, actually." Unsurprisingly, Geoff isn't happy about them siding with Ray. There was no siding here. It was just that maybe Ray wasn't completely wrong not to tell them. At any rate, it wasn't out of maliciousness. Geoff sighs passively, but he forgoes arguing this any further. He'd been so nice to Ray just yesterday morning. Weird.

"Hey, I'm killing the lights," Jack informs suddenly, alerting the crew of their arrival onto the airport. "I don't think they see us here."

"Alright, let's move. Wait until we get close and then start clearing them out," Geoff instructs as they begin quietly climbing out the van. Ray hurriedly hops into the front, banging his cast a little but otherwise having no trouble perching himself in Jack's lap.

"Uh, are you-?" Jack asks vaguely.

"Yep," Ray promises, rolling down the driver's window to prop his sniper rifle out of.

"Just making sure," Jack nods faintly.

"Yep," repeats Ray. Gavin sees Geoff roll his eyes hard. It seems like Geoff knows something he wasn't sharing as well. "So is there like a specific thing I did to upset boss man or is it just me in general? Because I'm pretty great. That's not true."

Gavin follows close behind Geoff under the cover of dark. So far, none of the busy gang members notice them. Michael and Ryan break off wide to the right, disappearing out of Gavin's vision almost immediately. Geoff ducks down behind a car and Gavin right beside him.

"Daylight's going to be here sooner than never," Jack informs quietly over mic.

"Let's get this over with while we have the advantage," Geoff insists plainly. Ray would be more help if he could stay still and he could only do that if they didn't have a dozen people shooting right at them. "Are you in position?"

"Michael's picking the lock now," Ryan assures.

"Got it. Let's do this," Michael says eagerly.

"Go for it, Ray." There's not even a second between Geoff speaking and a shot flying over head. As soon as the first guy hits the floor, everyone in the hangar scatters to takes cover. Ray picks off two more in the chaos he causes. People dropping dead is better than any alarm system.

"Boop," Ray, though he doesn't wear his own mic, is heard clearly over Jack's. With everyone's attention directed out, no one notices Michael and Ryan sneaking through the back. As soon as Gavin hears the explosion, he darts off to the right and Geoff goes left. It's hard to make out anyone's face in the mess but Gavin does his best to narrow down the search by eliminating anyone they aren’t looking for.

"Anything, Gavin?" Geoff calls, his voice hard to hear even over mic. There's a lot going on and Gavin isn't even entirely sure whose grenades those are. They're getting awfully close to him, though!

"I can't see a bloody thing!" Gavin answers loudly. He thinks now that maybe they should have waited to get eyes on their target before running in.

"I haven't seen them, either!" Michael barks. He sounds like he's near by judging by the small echo, but Gavin can't tell which direction.

"Are we sure they're here?" Geoff questions bluntly, a scathing remark towards Ray.

"They're here," Ray deadpans simply.

"Oh gee. Thanks," Geoff scoffs back. Gavin peeks out from behind his cover and spots Geoff across the room in a one sided fist fight. Bodies fall fast, Ray taking out the grunt of their numbers and leaving only those smart enough to stay in cover for the rest of them to deal with. Between them, the hangar is cleared out fast.

"I found Kraid," Ryan informs. "He's dead already. Poisoned by the looks of it."

"Figures," someone grumbles but Gavin can’t make out who. A man drops dead just inches from him and startles him forward a cowardly hop. He curses under his breath but quickly offers Ray a thumbs up as thanks. It was nice to have someone watch their backs from a far.

"We're clear out here," Michael states finally. Gavin peers around just to be sure before quickly hoping his cover to find the other. Ryan waves him over with the others to an office in the back and he sprints over to see for himself. Kraid's definitely dead. Slumped on the floor in an awkward position, Gavin isn’t sure he’s ever seen an expression like that on a living person. Still, he couldn’t have been like this for very long. Geoff comes up behind him and Michael muscles through them to confirm for himself.

"So," Gavin says. "Did they know we were coming or did Ridley just decide she didn't bloody need him?"

"Good question," Michael murmurs. There's a bit of shuffling outside and Ryan peeks out to assure it's just Jack and Ray. Geoff searches Kraid for his mobile while Gavin rifles through some of his desk drawers. Michael grabs him though, ceasing his search sharply. "If there's not a bomb in one of these drawers, I would be absolutely amazed."

"Well this was a bust," Ray comments as he limps in to join them and Jack's right behind him. None of them make any effort to remain in the cramped office for very long, hurriedly spilling back out into the open hangar and instead opting to hang out under one of the damaged plane wings.

"What now, genius?" Geoff asks Ray pointedly. Without Ridley and without Kraid’s mobile, they are really no closer to cutting the contract than they were before. They aren’t in the negative yet, though, so there is that.

"I mean, she couldn't have gotten very far. He hasn't been dead more than half an hour, forty five minutes?" Ray says, shoving his hands into his pockets. "We should probably look around. She might be hiding out nearby."

"Not after she's seen this," Michael huffs. Ray nods a bit but he doesn't agree entirely. Ryan jerks suddenly, whipping his pistol out all at once and pointing it towards a moving crate. Of all things, a dog pads out of it. Has it been in there all this time?

"Ah shit, here comes the K9 units," Geoff scowls. Admittedly, the raggedy dog is wearing a LSPD vest, but it seems less than interested in attacking them. In fact, it just kind of treads over to sniff them gently and wag its cropped tail.

"Uh," Ryan lowers his gun a little when the large dog sits itself on Gavin's feet gladly. If it was a police dog, where are the police? "I think she might have been here awhile. Maybe her handler got killed?"

"And it just fucking hung around while things exploded around it?" Geoff says, watching the dog momentarily. Gavin gives the mutt a tentative pet and finds immediately how friendly she really is. She pushes against his legs heavily and nearly knocks him down with her sheer size. Gavin laughs.

"We should get going," Ryan mentions, losing interest in the dog as soon as he realises it's not a threat. If the police hadn’t arrived already, they weren’t going to. No handler would be that far away from their dog.

"Uh. Where's Ray?" Jack questions out of the blue. Ryan and Geoff both glance to the side where Ray had been standing between them not moments ago. He has mysteriously vanished.

"Oh, fucking great!” Geoff say loudly, throwing his hands in the air. “So let me guess, we're about to get arrested again surrounded by coke and dead bodies. I swear to fucking god-"

"Yo."

Geoff stops. Slowly, he turns his head upwards and everyone follows his lead. Ray has somehow managed to climb up onto the plane wing in his cast where he clings for dear life. Geoff appears as though he's going to say something only to instead gesture at Ray questioningly with both hands.

"Do we got like a stick to get him down with?" Michael asks no one in particular. How had he even got up there?

"Funny," Ray says sarcastically. "Me and dogs don't get along, okay?"

"You're serious?" Jack laughs. "You're afraid of dogs?" He quickly tries to stop laughing, though, understanding that it probably wasn’t funny to Ray. It’s proves to be a difficult task for Jack but he does manage to smother his giggles in his beard and tone it down to a broad smile.

"Is this because of that job in Asia?" Ryan muses curiously.

"No. This is because of some totally other unrelated job where I also got attacked by fucking demon dogs," Ray assures him sardonically. "They always go for the Mexicans first, watch. Look at how she's looking at me! Not today demon dog."

"Are you even Mexican?" Michael points out.

"I'm Puerto Rican," Ray huffs indignantly.

"Aw, come on Ray!" Gavin insists, rubbing the overly friendly dog behind the neck and ears. She moves with him happily, tiny tail thumping against the floor without a care. "She's harmless!"

"That's a rottweiler, Gavin. They have one of the strongest bites known to dog," Ray explains unhappily. Gavin didn’t believe that for a second. Besides, it would be a lot more convincing if she wasn’t missing a few teeth. "She's going to eat your face off."

"Seriously, like a stick or a long pole. Something we can get up underneath him and ply him off," Michael says again.

"Ray," Ryan speaks gently, reaching up to grasp Ray's waist only to find him just out of reach. Ray doesn't budge even slightly. It wasn’t that he couldn’t get down, obviously, but rather that he wasn’t going to. "You know this dog isn't going to hurt you. Come down."

"Nah," Ray answers. "I'm good."

"You're being ridiculous, Ray," Ryan coaxes, trying to snag his fingers in Ray's shirt. Fortunately or otherwise, he's simply too far up for Ryan to pull him down. Perhaps forcibly making him face his fears wasn't the best idea anyways. Gavin is more afraid of Ray could do when he’s scared than what the dog would do.

"Why do you reckon it’s a she?" Gavin questions, crouching down beside the rottweiler and attempting to peer under her curiously. With a heavy noise, the dog flops onto her side and immediately rolls onto her back to be rubbed on. Gavin unbuckles the vest that's clearly been on her for days and fondly scratches her stomach.

"Body shape mostly," Ryan shrugs. "I, uh, I used to know this vet." The way he says it is the way he says a lot of things he doesn't care to elaborate on. If Gavin has learned anything so far it was that some things should be left unsaid. Ryan looks down again, having mostly given up on getting Ray to come down.

"Would you stop playing with it?" Geoff sighs tiredly. "It's fucking filthy. You're going to get rabies or something, you idiot."

"Nope!" Ray yelps. "I'm not fucking with no rabies infested dog!"

"Great job, Geoff," Jack says passively. "Now he's never going to come down." Geoff shrugs. That might not have been his intention, but it isn’t like that didn’t suit him just fine.

"She needs a name, right?" Gavin asks as he helps his new friend out of her vest. She rolls back onto her feet, shaking herself out wildly before applying wet kisses to his face. Oh yeah, horrible, horrible face shredding.

"We're not keeping that thing," Michael says firmly.

"I dunno. She does act as a Ray repellant," Geoff murmurs.

"We kept you, didn't we?" Gavin scoffs. Michael bristles angrily at the very suggestion.

"He has a point," Jack agrees. "I do recall you biting Geoff at one point."

"Yeah and I'm the one that put tooth marks in Ryan's neck," Michael snaps pointedly. Ryan rubs the mark mildly but nods all the same, not really agreeing with anyone. He had been the last to arrive into the crew, after all, and therefore wouldn't be aware of how unruly Michael used to be. Granted, Gavin doesn't claim himself to have been significantly better. He hadn’t bitten anyone, though, so there was that.

"I have the perfect name," Ryan announces gladly.

"I swear to god, Ryan, if you say Edgar-" Ray warns from above their heads. Geoff bursts into laughter. No one but Geoff seems to find it that funny, however, watching him somewhat questioningly.

"Jesus Christ! He did that back then, too?" he snorts, leaning over with his hands on his knees.

"Hell yeah. I fucking swear, he wanted to name everything Edgar," Ray assures. Geoff only laughs harder. Ryan shrugs and holds his hands out like he doesn't see what the big deal is. This must be some sort of inside joke with Ryan because the others are as unaware of it as Gavin is.

"I was going to say Duchess McBark, but now that you've mentioned it, I'm pretty sure Edgar is a unisex name," he says and Gavin knows he's smiling under that mask.

"Flynt Coal is gender neutral, right?" Gavin suggests. "I mean, she's bloody hardcore, isn't she? Hanging around a bunch of explosions and look! She's mostly black anyways! It's perfect." This mission was clearly very successful.

"Seriously though, we're not keeping her, right?" Michael insists. Whatever discussion slash argument they could have about it is cut short suddenly by the sound of their van starting up. It's enough to get Ray down from his high ground. He makes a little elegant flip to soften his fall and then quickly heads to the opening of the hangar. Everyone follows.

Gavin only catches a glance, but he's positive that's Ridley in the driver's seat. She's stealing their van! Automatically, Gavin raises his pistol to open fire on the back and the rest of his crew does the same. The effects of this are minimum. Of course, their vehicles were armoured fiercely, held up with bullet proof tires and resistance glass. They'd need a lot more than small firearms to take that down.

Or a lot less.

"God dammit! She distracted us with a fucking dog!" Michael yells, flinging his hands, and unwisely his gun, into the air with an annoyed growl.

"Why do we armor those things so well?" Geoff complains mainly to himself.

"You don't," Ray says plainly. Gavin watches curiously as Ray reaches over his shoulder to free his bow from its attachments. He takes up an arrow, though from where even Gavin isn't sure, and draws it back. Already, the arrow is strung up to a line of rope like Ray had prepared for this. Gavin follows the dingy nylon with his eyes, curious as to where it's attached on the other end.

Obviously, he's a little startled to find Adam and Joel standing directly behind him. Where had they even come from‽ Before Gavin can let out a warning yelp, Adam covers his mouth harshly with one hand and drags him back a few steps away from his crew. The others haven't noticed yet and the gun Joel holds to the side of his face prevents Gavin from doing anything to alert them.

"No way," Geoff deadpans back as Ray pulls back the string of his bow and gestures it upward in a rather large arch. Gavin is pretty sure the scariest thing about Republica is how many times they could kill and mysteriously don’t.

"Yes way," Ray promises. He lets it fly and everyone watches quietly as it goes. Flynt glances back, tilting her head at Gavin and his newer buddies curiously. Most useless dog ever. Of all time.

"No way," Geoff repeats. To this, Ray only smiles. He had to have expected something like this from the beginning if not planned for it. The arrow pierces the top of the van effortlessly and the van swerves a little but doesn't stop and doesn't crash.

A few seconds later, the end of the rope goes sailing right past them. Michael claps slowly.

"Bravo, Mark Nutt," he says sarcastically. Slowly, Ray turns, clearly a bit confused as to what had happened to his plan. When he sees Gavin, or more specifically who's holding Gavin hostage, his face falls. His resentment is nearly tangible. Ryan jerks around all at once, likely having seen them out the corner of his eye before really being aware of them.

In a sort of domino effect, Geoff, Jack and Michael swiftly turn, startled by Joel and Adam's sudden appearance. Guns are raised instantly, regardless of the one pointed right at Gavin and far too close for comfort. He doesn't think he's in immediate danger but man, guns. They're great.

"Hello again," Adam says gladly, offering a small wave with the hand not covering Gavin's mouth. Then he aims his gun at Geoff.

"What are you doing?" Joel asks at once. Adam pauses for a moment before shortly look at him out the corner of his eyes.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing'?" he repeats somewhat unhappily.

"You can't shoot them," is the obvious reply.

"Uh, I think I can," Adam assures Joel with an insincere smile.

"Dude, no you can't. We're not supposed to hurt them," Joel reminds him briskly. Gradually, they seem less and less aware that they're not actually alone right now. Gavin can feel the barrel at his face move away just slightly. If he waited this out, maybe he could make a break for it.

"They're wax bullets, they'll be fine," Adam insists. This isn't quite what Gavin expected from a pair of super mercenaries, he'll say that. No one makes any sudden movements as they try to interpret what’s actually going on here.

"Oh really? Let me shoot you, then," Joel says bluntly. That sounds greats. If they could just shoot each other instead of Gavin, that would be incredible.

"Don't shoot me, Joel," Adam deadpans back. Ryan glances down at Ray silently and Ray shakes his head like he doesn't want to know.

"You said it doesn't hurt, so what's the problems? Come on, Adam. One in the leg, it's fine," Joel persuades insistently.

"Don't you fucking shoot me, Joel," Adam warns aggressively. Out of the blue, Joel shoots Michael dead on in the chest and causes the lad to crumple his knees in pained gasps. Gavin squeaks involuntarily. The shot rings loud in his ears and it takes him a second to realise his entire skull hasn't been fractured nor is Michael dead. Geoff instinctively jerks his gun at Joel and Jack quickly moves to tend to Michael. Neither Ray or Ryan move.

"Oh, what was that? I thought you said we couldn't shoot them?" Adam says outright, gesturing to Michael grandly.

"Well, he was going to shoot you! And I'm pretty sure those aren't wax bullets," Joel replies loudly.

"Me?" Adam huffs sharply. "Don't use me as an excuse! He was probably going to shoot you! You’re the one holding the gun to boyfriend’s head!"

"You’re also holding a gun! Besides, you're the bigger target," Joel insists. Adam stares at him coldly. Gavin wonders if he could just kind of sneak away. They're obviously busier arguing than they are with him. When he tries, however, Adam grips him harder and the hot metal of Joel's gun presses on his skin causing him to flinch.

"That was fucking rude, dude," Adam assures Joel plainly. In response, Joel sighs like he knows he's done it now.

"Well, I mean, no offense Adam, but factually you are a bigger target," Joel explains.

"Factually, I'm gonna put my foot up your ass," Adam grumbles back. It was kind of hard to believe Ray had worked closely with one of these guys.

"Do you- do you think people actually do that? Like sexually?"

"Holy fucking dicks," Geoff finally says over them, bringing their attention to him. "Are you two going to fucking run your mouths all night or what?"

"They're probably waiting for Ridley to get away," Ryan comments off handedly.

"Nah, she's been long gone," Ray assures. "They're like this all the time." Again, not exactly what Gavin was thinking when he found out two Republica agents were after them. Also not what he was thinking when he heard one of them was Ray’s ex. He was thinking someone more like scary Ryan. He was so wrong.

"Ray, nice to see you again," Joel offers up somewhat pleasantly.

"Shut up," Ray answers tactlessly.

"Okay," Joel says like he had expected that in the first place.

"What do you want?" Geoff snaps crossly. With Gavin directly in the line of fire, his patience is nearly nonexistent. That as it is, neither Adam nor Joel pay him much mind. Like Ray, they don't seem to care about anything not immediately relevant to them.

"Republica's welcoming you back, Ray," Joel informs. Gavin stiffens. This so wasn't good news. If Ray went back to Republica they were so screwed. He sees Ryan freeze up as well, obviously concerned about the same thing. The only difference is, he would know if they really would take Ray back. Gavin takes Ryan’s concern as assurance that this is a legitimate offer and that Ray really has no reason to stay with them.

"Not James, though," Adam adds on, motioning to Ryan slightly. "He's still a dead man."

"Sorry, James," Joel shrugs like there shouldn’t be hard feelings. "Monty vouched for you, Ray. The value of what you got turned out to be greater than the sum of what you sold plus the trouble you caused."

"Glad they figured that out after they tried to murder me," Ray scoffs sourly.

"Plus, you're making a lot of commotion and people are starting to think RT agents aren't trustworthy anymore or that we might go rogue or that we're too extreme so, yeah, they'd rather just have you back," Adam tells him simply.

"Leaving James dead in the water is just a bonus," Joel assures. They weren’t welcoming Ray back just to knock some of Ryan’s defenses down. He couldn’t be that high of a target, right?

"Pass," Ray answers without hesitation. Gavin is honestly a little surprised. He figured Ray would have considered it at least. Actually, no, Gavin was pretty sure Ray was going to go back. Why wouldn’t he? Staying with them meant he was going to die pretty much without a doubt. "Now give us Gavin."

"Uh," Joel drags on slightly. Gavin so didn't like the sound of that. "Are you sure? I mean, these guys are idiots. I’d really like to have you back in Republica, too. I don’t want to see you dead, Ray."

“Nah,” Ray repeats bluntly. “Gavin. Now.”

"We didn't think you'd say no," Adam admits. "And we really don't feel like getting shot today, so uh, let's go for a short walk." Obviously Gavin isn’t the only one surprised by Ray’s firm refusal of their offer.

"We're gonna lock you in the hangar while we strategically retreat," Joel clarifies.

"You're going to run away like a bunch of bitches?" Geoff asks pointedly. "Sounds good to me." Even Geoff knew what fights weren't worth it. If they are going to leave without a fight, then Gavin is more than happy to let them, especially when he’s being the one held hostage.

“Was that it?” Michael insists. “You came to offer Ray his job back and now you’re just going to leave?”

“Uh,” Adam answers.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Joel agrees. “I mean, I can shoot you again if you want.”

“I think he’s good,” Ryan assures them swiftly, grabbing Michael before he can start an unnecessary fight. It wasn’t like Michael was going to do much fighting when he’s fractured his sternum; again.

“Let’s just go our separate ways quietly, hmm?” Geoff confirms pointedly.

“Actually,” of course Ryan has to argue. “Joel and I need to have a chat. Why don’t the three of us talk in the hangar while the rest of you go back to the motel?”

“Ryan,” Geoff says firmly but it is deflected before it’s even started.

“Nah, we’re gonna have a talk,” Ryan insists again, already moving to corral Adam and Joel away from Gavin. “Let’s have a talk.” For whatever reason, they don’t seem to have a problem letting Gavin go in favour of moving with Ryan. Then again, no one’s going to shoot them if Ryan has other plans.

“Ryan’s a creepy motherfucker, you know that?” Geoff comments to no one in particular. Ray nods his agreement absently.

“We should probably go,” he says. “Like right now.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one super got away from me and i didn't want to cut it so enjoy this 10k chapter @ m@ uh next time more stuff happens and you guys are probably going to be pretty upset with me. i can't wait.


	11. Don't Wanna Hear About It

Ryan watches his crew leave as he pulls the shudder of the titan hangar closed. It’s a little busted and doesn’t latch all the way but it’s more than enough for what Ryan needs it for; privacy. He's not concerned about his boyfriends making their way back to the motel. Ray's with them, after all, and he doesn't believe Ridley dumb enough to try and fight them now.

The assortment of dead bodies in the hangar do little to bother Ryan nor Joel and Adam. It doesn't seem like Ridley has a very large supply of employees behind her and hitting this hangar definitely will leave her numbers hurting. On the bright side, this hadn't been a total bust. He does get to have a nice chat with Joel, too.

Knowing what Ryan already knew of Joel, he knows that Joel isn’t going to lay a hand on his crew unless he finds it absolutely necessary. Whoever hired them, hired them specifically to not permanently injure any of them and Joel wouldn't overrule that requirement unless his, or his partner's, life is in danger. That was unfortunate for Joel.

“Could we make this talk quick?” Joel insists mildly when Ryan approaches him. “We’re already way behind schedule-”

Ryan hits him hard with a powerful, but controlled, punch. Unfortunately, knocking Joel out cold would be counter productive to asking him questions. At least, that’s what Ryan tells himself. Joel reels back immediately, doubling over on himself and holding his face with both hands as he hisses in pain.

“Ah! Jeez! What the fuck, man!” Joel yelps and he stands up straight again to tilt his head back, trying to stop his eyes from watering from the sheer force of the blow. Ryan could have easily broken his nose with that punch; he didn't. He has some self control.

“That’s for what you did to Ray,” Ryan assures him bluntly.

“You hit me in the fucking eye!” Joel replies loudly. He makes a noise between the roof of his mouth and his tongue akin to a 'tsk', acting more like someone who's been mildly inconvenienced as opposed to someone very close to being beaten half to death. “Fucking- I’m gonna go blind now.”

“You’re not going to go blind, Joel,” Ryan grumbles back irritably. Unsurprisingly, Adam does not stand by quietly while his partner is abused. Ryan may be out of practice, but it would be a cold day in hell before someone as new to this as Adam got a leg up on him.

Adam’s made the unfortunate decision to stand within Ryan’s unusual large personal bubble as he aims his mostly harmless gun point blank at Ryan’s throat. For his non lethal wax bullets to do any amount of lethal damage, he would have to stand very close. Of course, Ryan already knows that’s not on the table. In an easy movement, Ryan hits Adam’s arm away from him and grabs his wrist in both hands.

With a harsh twist, Ryan jerks the gun from Adam's hands and across the floor of the hangar. Solidifying his grip on Adam's wrist with one hand, Ryan uses the other to draw his very much lethal pistol from its holster. He returns the favour by pointing it at Adam's throat. The difference in this situation being that Ryan is absolutely alright with dropping Adam dead right now. Obviously Adam understands this and he probably knows that Ryan wouldn’t think twice about it. Adam’s life is meaningless to Ryan and if he was dumb enough to let Ryan shoot him, it would be meaningless to Joel as well. It still baffles Ryan why someone like Joel would bring someone like Adam on a job like this.

“Do you really want to make this your fight, too?” Ryan questions sharply. It’s clear that Adam does have some sort of Republica mentality because he stands down with only slight hesitation. He wasn’t going to fight Joel’s fight especially against someone like Ryan. There was a fine line between selfishness and pointlessness. “That’s what I thought.”

With Adam now out of the picture, Ryan turns his attention back on Joel still holding his face like he really is injured. It’s an act Ryan isn’t buying in to. If he really wanted to see Joel in pain, he’d do a lot more than punch him, that was sure. It was certainly a thought that had occurred to Ryan already.

“Okay, Joel, let’s make this ‘quick’. I’m going to ask you some questions and you’re going to give me some answers. Simple, right?” Ryan insists as he tosses Adam's gun across the hangar. Joel looks dramatically confused.

“Uh,” he answers. “No? Why would I do that?”

“Because, Joel, if you don’t, I’m going to hit you a lot more and a lot harder,” Ryan promises. Joel acts as though he’s going to make an argument but the inelegant babbling he gets out does very little to convince Ryan to change his mind let alone his tactics. He didn’t need Joel’s favor, only his knowledge. There is no reason for him to go about this the ‘Republica’ way. Granted, Ryan knew the Republica way would get him more and better informed answers, but he simply isn’t feeling that kind today.

“You’re an asshole, James, you know that?” Joel complains with a passive, but yielding, sigh. Already, the area around his eye is violently red. He'll certainly have a black eye tomorrow.

“I really prefer Ryan,” Ryan assures him and gives a nonchalant shrug.

“You’re a fucking asshole, Ryan,” Joel corrects. He’s not wrong.

“Did Ridley hire you?” Ryan gets straight to the point. As much as he would love to hang around and have a friendly chat, he doesn’t want to spend any more time here than absolutely required. In the past he had worked with Joel on a few company projects but they’d never really been close. Of course, that was a given considering Ryan had only ever been close with Ray. People like Joel and Ryan knew to stay away from each other.

“No,” Joel grumbles reluctantly like he doesn't really want to answer any of Ryan's questions. He wouldn't lie, that's already obvious, because if Ryan found out he lied, Joel would be in a lot more trouble and they both know it. Joel has a lot more to lose than Ryan does right now.

“Did Kraid?” Ryan inquires. A defaulted contract would be a lot harder to cancel.

“No,” is repeated.

“Who did hire you, then, Joel?” he demands. Joel sighs like a child, tilting his head to the side a little as he rubs his neck.

“Come on, dude. You know I’m not going to tell you that even if you sucker punch me again,” he insists. Unfortunately, Ryan knows he’s right. That is information Joel would die with if he has to. To think Ryan used to be one of these guys.

“I mean, I won’t know until I try, right?” Ryan muses suggestively. Just because he's right doesn't mean Ryan doesn't want to give him another good jab anyways. Or several. Really, who would blame him if he hit Joel a dozen more times?

“Oh come on! I’m pretty sure you already cracked my eye socket, Ryan,” Joel complains. He’s being very over dramatic. Good to know he hasn’t changed.

“You’re assisting them, though?” Ryan questions knowingly. Honestly, a lot of what he was looking for was only confirmation. If he got some solid ground to base his information on, he could come to the conclusions on his own. Joel clearly isn't going to give up a lot of new information, though Ryan hadn’t really expected him to.

“We’re assisting Ridley,” Joel agrees with a slight glance towards the office. Obviously there was no helping a dead man. It's still unclear whether Ridley killed him because they were coming or if it was for her own agenda. It proves to be unimportant, though. “I can see why her and Michael were such good friends.”

“Why are you helping them kill Ray? You know Roosterteeth is going to execute him,” Ryan asks and maybe it’s a little harsher than before. Joel and Ray had been an incredible pair, how could Joel have so easily abandoned that? Two people couldn't work together like that so effortlessly and remain detached from each other. “You cared about him, didn’t you?”

“So?” Joel huffs back. It makes Ryan far more angry than it should but he knows better. Something like that wouldn’t matter to someone like Joel; to someone like Adam. It hadn't mattered to someone like Ryan. That’s how people in Republica function; no one held any grudges but no one kept any favors, either. Reluctantly, Ryan moves on.

“What about the Insurrection? Was that you?” he asks. Joel shouldn’t need to do something so complicated to test Fake AH’s ability but that doesn’t mean he hadn’t. There could be a lot more reasons for Joel to antagonize them like that.

“No,” Joel scoffs. “Well,” he adds on quickly afterward. “We did put down that tripwire. Besides that, though, no, not us.” Ryan doesn’t have to ask why. They wanted to know if he was still up to grade and furthermore, if Geoff would even let him come and if not, if Ryan would go it alone. It was a simple test that gave them far more information than Ryan would have liked them to know. There was no helping it now, unfortunately.

“Do you know who was behind it?” Ryan continues.

“Confidential,” Joel murmurs with a mild shrug. It had to have been someone from Republica, then. No one would work with Joel and Adam so willingly and then on top of that tell them not to tell anyone else. That isn’t good news. It was bad enough that these two were helping other people take them out, they didn’t need a completely different Republica agent directly trying to take them out. Republica had likely hired Joel and Adam as well. They were a business of results and considering they weren’t getting any, it had only been a matter of time before they upped the pace. When Joel and Adam ultimately failed, they’d raise the price on their heads and then who knows what kind of people would come after them.

Their failure was inevitable from the start.

“How was Ray?” Ryan murmurs a little quieter.

“What?” comes the puzzled reply. Ryan hits Joel again, grabbing a handful of the front of his shirt and striking him square in the same place.

“Jesus! Stop hitting me!” Joel yelps and he holds his eye protectively with both hands. If he wanted to talk about collapsed eye sockets, Ryan could show him one. Despite his complaining and squirming, Joel doesn't try to get away.

“Answer the questions and I will,” Ryan promises.

“I wasn’t refusing to answer the question!” Joel assures him loudly. “I just wasn’t expecting it, okay? Really though!”

“How was Ray when you met him, Joel?” Ryan asks again, slower this time. There’s a moment where Joel glances past him and looks at Adam but Ryan doesn’t think twice about it. Adam wasn’t going to intervene and Joel certainly wasn’t going to encourage him to. Of all things, it was a look of assurance. Joel was assuring himself that Adam was fine and assuring himself he would be able to stop Ryan if Ryan tried to make a move for him. Ryan has no interest in Adam.

“Manic,” Joel answers finally, rolling his shoulders a bit against Ryan’s hold. “Obsessive. He would have worked himself to death if Gus let him.” It sounds like he had been distracting himself just as Ryan thought. He isn't fully sure why he needed, or wanted, confirmation of that.

“Did he trust you?” Ryan questions and he wants it to sound just like the others but he knows it doesn’t. Then again, what does it matter if he shows weakness to Joel? Ryan already knows how he thinks and he already knows exactly how Joel would try to strike him down. The only fight a Republica could win against another Republica was a physical one. Joel stares at him for a moment, but his expression is largely untelling.

“No,” he says eventually. “He didn’t.”

Ray really did want his relationship with Joel to flop.

“Why did Republica fire him?” Ryan’s not expecting a well informed answer. A part of him isn’t even sure why he bothers to ask. If Ray was selling information, Republica would be doing their damn best to keep it under wraps. They had a reputation to protect.

“I don’t know,” Joel tells him plainly. “And don’t- don't fucking hit me again. Seriously, I don’t know. Ray’s file has been locked for like, I dunno, five and a half years now? All I know is word of mouth.”

“Locked?” Ryan repeats. “Not restricted?”

“No, dude, locked,” Joel insists. “They don’t even let his age out on that thing.” Why would they lock Ray’s file? More importantly, why would they wait several months after Ryan had left to lock Ray’s files? Why would they have waited until now to find out Ray hadn’t actually done anything wrong? Why would they ever give Ray the room to run knowing they'd never catch him? “You know yours is locked, too.”

They locked his file? They had known he was gone. Ryan can smell conspiracy all over this. He lets Joel go carefully, releasing the hold he has on his shirt and taking a steady step back. There was nothing else he needed or wanted from Joel; nothing Joel would give him at least. Still, he was going to leave with more than he thought he would. Admittedly, the issue with using force was that Joel could have refused to tell him anything at all. However, Joel was, and obviously still is, a huge weenie.

“Nice to see you again, Joel,” Ryan comments idly. “Nice to meet you, Adam. If I catch either of you again, I’m going to break every bone in your bodies one at a time.”

“Nice to see you’re still terrifying. Please god let us go our separate ways now and forever.”

\- x -

“Are you alright?” Adam ask cautiously as they enter the hotel room. Joel holds his eye with both hands irritably, trying to rub his pain away and in turn only making it worse. They head for the little fridge poised on counter by the sink and Joel quickly fishes out a seven dollar beer to hold up to his eye.

“Oh sure, Adam,” Joel bites back sarcastically. “My face is supposed to look like this.”

“After a man twice your weight class delivers a haymaker to your face, twice, yeah, you’re supposed to look like that,” Adam assures him just as sarcastically. “You knew he was going to punch you. Stop complaining.”

“Oh yeah, and you just stood there and watched it happen,” Joel scoffs sharply.

“I wasn’t going to let him hit me, too,” Adam answers with passive shrug. Joel looks at him blandly. Not that he really would have let Adam intervene. Ryan would have destroyed him. Suddenly and abruptly, Joel jerks himself around as he notices for the first time Ray perched in one corner of the room. Ray glances up, away from his game at hand, and then back down again without a care. Their presence was not an issue to him. Joel took way too long to notice him.

“Jesus Christ! Can’t you knock like a normal person?” Joel says in exasperation.

“Why would I knock if you weren’t here?” Ray replies. Hey, he would have knocked if he knew someone would answer. It wasn’t like the door had been locked, anyways.

"You could have waited outside like a normal person," Adam suggests pointedly. Ray looks away from his game again, watching the two of them stand protectively close together. It's just to cover their blind spots, though. If Ray is here, who else is? No one, just Ray. Unlike them, Ray did his sweep of the room when he entered. Fairly, if he had been anyone else, Joel probably would have spotted him immediately.

"You know we're not actually normal people, right?" Ray reminds them. They were the furthest thing from normal and they were supposed to relish that. Or, more accurately, be apathetic about it.

"Well, we're supposed to pretend," Joel answers but he knows it's a futile argument. He seats himself at the end of the bed just inside Ray's personal bubble but Adam keeps on his feet. To some degree, they did work together better than Ray and Joel had. Ray just hadn’t had the right kind of connection with Joel. Ideally, they could have worked together well with some effort but honestly, Adam had been a godsend for Ray.

"Off the clock," Ray says, tapping his wrist slightly. Joel doesn't find his joke very funny.

"Are you ever off the clock?" he inquires as he pops the top off his beer and takes a hearty drink.

"Nah," Ray assures him. Silence passes over them in the dark, a solid sixty seconds for everyone to listen for anything abnormal before continuing at their luxury. There continues to be no one here. Ray isn’t exactly expecting anyone to show up, either, unless Joel and Adam had someone tailing them.

"Your ex is a fucking dick," Joel grumbles as he rubs his black eye again and again, only makes it worse.

"I guess I have a type," Ray shrugs.

"Are you saying I'm as much of a dick as he is?" Joel scoffs. "Because I'm pretty sure I've never hit myself directly in the eyeball." Actually, Ray is sure that’s completely untrue. He would be absolutely shocked if there hasn’t been at least one time where Joel has accidentally hit himself in the eye with something.

"It's a close competition," Ray assures him bluntly. Truthfully, he didn't really hold a grudge against either of them. Realistically, Ray knows he played as much of a hand in Ryan's melt down as Ryan had. Similarly, things never would have worked out between he and Joel. He finds it odd that Joel still doesn't realise that. As it is, though, he cares little to talk about it.

"Are we even, yet?" Joel questions as he rubs his swollen eye against the side of his bottle again.

"No," Ray laughs shortly. It draws a small, unsurprised sigh from Joel. Not holding a grudge and being even were not the same thing.

"What are you going to do about Geoff?" Adam inquiries. There's no reason for him to want to know so Ray believes it to be less of a question and more of a small alert. "If his file is anything to go off of, he's going to recognise something's up. He's already super suspicious of you."

"Yeah, and he's been talking to Griffon a lot lately. I mean he's really dumb, but tactically- he's going to put the pieces together," Joel adds on in agreement. They are concerned about him. There's plenty of reasons for them to be worried about his well being strategically and therefore there's nothing odd about it. Ray doesn't need to be worried about.

"Then I'll put him in a drug induced coma until I'm ready to bring Ryan back to Republica," Ray shrugs. He doesn't believe Geoff, let alone any of the others, are going to figure it out. They had been on the right path at one point and then Ray guesses Ryan convinced them they were wrong. They were technically wrong, but now they were even more wrong.

Not that it mattered to Ray. Even if they did figure it out, he'd still be in good shape. They had already cost him a large chunk of points off his score so losing a few more didn't matter. They were so unpredictable, it was annoying.

"That's not suspicious?" Adam asks.

"He's an alcoholic and Ridley's MO is drugs," he assures without much thought. It would look like a ticking time bomb just waiting to happen. Even after she was dead, it would be fairly easy to make it look like she had planted it from the beginning. Ryan would have been the only real problem, but he has clearly fallen out of shape. Working with this Fake AH Crew has made him squishy and soft.

Ray's not sure that's a bad thing for him. He seemed to be doing well enough for himself before Ray came back into his life. It isn't even like Ray had much of a choice in the matter. He didn't- doesn't want to see Ryan dead.

"Anyway, did you bring what I asked?" Ray questions. It is the whole reason he's even here. Adam nods, though Ray feels this is more for himself than anyone else, and moves towards one of their bags. He knows exactly what he's looking for when he crouches down to shuffle through it. Within a few seconds, he's returning with a small, white box no bigger than a pill bottle. It's unlabelled besides Joel's scratchy writing on the side.

"This is some strong shit," Adam warns as he hands it over. Ray places his psp in his lap in order to accept the box. He pops open the top to assure there's a little glass bottle filled with clear liquid. "The first thing Jeremy did was knock himself out with it."

"'Himself'," Joel repeats and makes air quotations.

"Look, I didn't think he would actually do it, okay?" Adam grumbles.

"Adam," Joel replies with a sigh. "You seriously gotta realise you're naturally charming and people are going to do dumb things if you ask them to."

"He should not have shaken my hand," Adam insists without waver.

"He absolutely shouldn't have, no," Joel agrees. On the bright side, at least Ray knew it worked. He's sure Jeremy's fine. He's also sure he's learned a new lesson about people suspiciously wearing gloves for no reason. Ray pockets the tiny box and picks up his game to continue where he left off.

"It shouldn't take much to knock Ryan out for a few hours," Adam assures him.

"Even if he's fucking huge," Joel scoffs scathingly. Ray doubts Joel is anywhere near as upset as he's acting to be, but Ray also decides that's not his business nor problem. If Joel is starting to come unwound, that's too bad.

"I think I have it under control," Ray promises fleetingly. "It's not like I haven't drugged Ryan many times before." Joel and Adam both nod with similar facial expressions of discontent. There was a reason they named Republica's go to drug 'Mad King' and that reason was Ryan. It lures an interesting question to Ray's mind.

"Do you have any MK on you, Joel?" he asks. Joel pauses, watching him for a moment as if to try and figure out what Ray would even want with it. That's really none of his business. He is only here to be an instigator, after all.

"Yeah?" he answers with clear reluctance. "Why?"

"I'll give you twenty bucks for it," Ray offers.

"Ray," Joel says deliberately. "You know that stuff'll really fuck you up, right?" Such a powerful drug didn't agree with Ray. Not that he had ever needed it in the first place. Again, though, that's none of Joel's business.

"Thanks," Ray answers flatly. He is aware of what his body and mind can take. At no point did he need Joel to govern that for him. "Twenty bucks or nah?"

"Uh, I mean, sure dude," Joel finally agrees when he also understands it's not his business. Ray scrounges a few of his pockets to locate the money he has scattered around his person in crumpled bills. As he does so, Joel drags one of his bags between his feet to fish out a packet of pills. A short exchange follows.

Money isn't very valuable in Republica, few things were, and honestly if Ray had simply asked, Joel would have simply given it to him. However, good will is not a strong trait in people like them and gift giving is highly frowned upon. They would undoubtedly have ulterior motives.

"Thanks," Ray says and he pockets both the drug and his game. After his little ‘being kidnapped’ scare, the crew would probably realise if he’s gone for more than a couple hours and thus he plans on heading back to them soon. They wouldn’t look for him for significantly longer, but he’s trying to keep their curiosity down. "How's MI6 going?"

"Stubborn," Joel answers, watching as Ray gets up and stretches minutely. Adam steps out of the pathway to the door. "But cracking. Like, a week and a half maybe?"

"Enough time for you to take out Ridley and her crew," Adam informs. Ideally, Ridley will be out of the picture long before that and with her, some more loose strings that needed to be tied up. Ray needs a bit of time to make sure none of these idiots get themselves killed by MI6.

"Cool," Ray comments with a small grin. "I'll see you guys later." Obviously the less contact they had, the better even if the tabs kept on him were menial at best. Hell, he'd gone missing for three days and no one even noticed.

"The dog was a nice touch," Joel murmurs to Adam somewhat quietly as Ray departs.

"I thought that was your dog?" Adam replies curiously.

"Why would it be my dog?" comes the quick and loud answer.

"I don't know, dude! Why would it be mine?"

Ray decides to leave quickly before he gets pinned into another unnecessary conversation. They'd go at it for hours. It is absolutely amazing they ever got anything done together.

\- x -

Ryan startles himself awake. Though he jerks rather roughly into the waking world, it does little to awaken Michael or Geoff at either side. Michael makes an annoyed face and inhales deeply while Geoff remains completely dead to the world. It's fortunate they're such heavy sleepers. If they weren’t, he’d probably be sleeping on the couch a lot more often lately.

For a moment, he simply remains where he is, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart and ease his uneven breaths. It takes some effort, but he manages to relax again. Ryan rubs his eyes in the palm of his hand and yawns tiredly a mouthful of sleep he can't get. All this sleeplessness was going to drive him mad.

Slowly, Ryan sits up, immediately causing Michael to roll over into Gavin and leaving Jack to drag Geoff into a sleepy death grip. While this hotel's bed hosts them all more comfortably than the motel, it still makes Ryan uneasy. He just doesn't like this. He doesn't like any of this. He wants to go home. What Joel told him still lingers in the back of his mind like angry wasps.

Careful to not awaken any of the others, Ryan climbs out of the strange bed and heads for the bathroom. He leaves the incredibly bright lights off as he rinses his face with cold water and shakes off the remembrants of another nightmare. Ray was turning out to be the monster less and less lately in favour of being the victim.

It was Ryan's turn to be the monster.

Ryan really wishes he could go back to not dreaming at all soon. It did make for much nicer nights and more restful mornings. He doesn't remember his dreams being so intense before, either, not even when he first joined Republica. His mental state has to be far better off now than it was then. He was stressed beyond belief, of course, but surely that alone wouldn’t do it.

Steadily, Ryan makes his way into the portion of the hotel room that makes up the kitchen, dining, and living room. He expects to find Ray pressed into one of his games again but this is not the case. Instead, Ray is fast asleep on the plush sofa. It's definitely a sight to behold. Ryan's not actually sure if he's seen Ray willingly sleep since he got here. Understandably, he tended to sleep in short bursts and only when he was sure no one was around.

Ray really is starting to trust them; starting to trust Ryan again. At least, that's what Ryan hopes. It's entirely too possible that Ray has simply given up already and therefore doesn't care anymore. Ray is a pretty lackadaisical person, though, and as long as he thinks he's safe, he'll nap practically anywhere. This is a step in the right direction.

Ray opens his eyes wearily, likely having realised someone is watching him, and squints at Ryan slightly. Even without his glasses, he can tell it's Ryan. He yawns and scrunches his face up grumpily before rolling further into the couch with his blanket. Burrowed in the thick hotel blanket makes him look a lot bigger than he actually is. If he’s not careful, Ray will probably get lost in that thing.

"What'er you doing, Ryan?" he questions quietly. Maybe Ryan thought he'd be able to have another chat with Ray. He wants to think that if he can keep talking to Ray instead of trying to guess and assume, they won't have a repeat of last time. Granted, Ray isn't much of a talker. At one point, Ryan had thought he had known how to read all of Ray's little metaphorical scribbles between the lines but he can't think that anymore or ever again.

"Just checking on things," Ryan says but he thinks they both know he's checking on Ray. He's already proven that he's not going anywhere but Ryan perhaps isn't checking on him in that way. "Are you okay, Ray?"

"'M fine," Ray mumbles assuringly. "Go back to bed, Ry." It seems so miniscule and yet Ryan swallows thickly. It's so weird now, having Ray be so friendly with him again. Not that it's going to last considering Ryan is pretty sure he fucked up Ray's life just by association. Since, clearly, it wasn't bad enough he had done it directly.

"Yeah. Goodnight," Ryan agrees. He should try to get more sleep at least. He can talk to Ray later. When he turns back to head for the bedroom, though, Ray stops him.

"Ryan," he says loud enough to make sure he gets Ryan's attention. Ryan looks back at him. Ray points over his shoulder at the furry lump sprawled out on the small tiled section of the kitchen. "Take Flynt with you. Please."

Ryan nearly laughs. He can't believe after all these years he's still afraid of dogs. Ray had somehow managed to get a nap in not only while sharing a hotel room with the rest of the crew but with the massive, ‘face eating’ dog as well. If that wasn’t relaxing, Ryan doesn’t know what is. He whistles lowly to get Flynt’s attention but much like Geoff, she is entirely dead to the world.

“Flynt,” he calls to her gently. She is unresponsive. Alright, so maybe she’s a little deaf. It would explain why she hadn't been freaked out by all the explosions. Ray lifts his head a bit to chuck one of the pillows he’s laying on across the room. It hits Flynt square in the back and she jumps awake with a small yip.

Flynt whips her head around wildly before spotting Ryan gesturing to her and she gladly gets up to pad over to him. They can’t keep her, not right now, but Lindsay promises that Caleb would be more than happy to take care of her. Honestly, it’ll be much safer for her anyways.

Ryan leads her back into the room and as he goes, he glances back to assure Ray has already gone back to sleep. It's hard to tell but he if he's not already, he probably will be soon. He makes a little spot in one corner of the room for Flynt to sleep in and assures she's alright before returning to bed.

Michael and Gavin have already migrated into the warm spot Ryan had left behind so he makes himself comfortable at the edge. Though he tries, sleep fails to come to him. He is too restless; too anxious. Without being able to get back to sleep, Ryan's mind eats away at itself.

It makes sense why Republica would try to use Ray against him. They had likely fired Ray because they thought he would kill Ryan to get his job back. Of course they hadn't thought Ray would actually help Ryan. Why he was such a highly valued target was beyond Ryan. Considering this was Republica, he can assume he knows something they don't want him to. It would have to be something about Republica.

Ryan knows a lot about Republica. He knows the conspiracies they're behind, he knows the tricks they play to 'encourage' more jobs, he even knows what causes they 'donate' money to. Even with all of that, Ryan can't fathom any of it being worth risking Ray. Ray wasn't just another agent. He had nearly perfected a no star job. Not only was that an incredible feat by itself, he had done it within four years of joining Republica.

If they had thought Ray would take the job, they probably would have simply asked him to take Ryan out. Hell, Ryan had expected Ray to hunt him down eventually anyways. Maybe they had asked him and when he refused, they came up with an inane reason they could think of to force Ray into doing what they wanted. Ray would certainly help him just to spite Republica.

In the end, it all boiled down to the same conclusion; Ray had to leave his life because of Ryan. If Ryan hadn't been such a coward and just faced the consequences of his actions, none of this would be happening. Guilt is certainly a familiar feeling to Ryan now a days. Everything circled back to him in the end.

Ryan knows Republica won't stop. They'll kill him and now that Ray has refused their offer to return, they'll cut him down, too. Maybe now would be a good time to cut his losses; his boyfriends would live and Ray could have his life back. Life on the run was never as fun as the movies made it out to be.

Eventually, Ryan does fall asleep. It's not an easy sleep, though, rather it's filled with stress dreams and heavy dread. He would have been better off not sleeping at all. A warm kiss stirs him from his sleep come morning and Ryan manages not to jerk upright instantly. He's sure Michael appreciates not being head butted first thing in the morning.

"Wake up, asshole," is the lazy grumble. Michael definitely isn't one hundred percent awake right now. That made more than one of them. "You're gonna fuckin' roll off the bed if you keep it up."

Ryan is very quickly aware of how close to the edge he is, one leg already dangling off the side of the bed. This is exactly why he isn't allowed to sleep on the edges. One bashed head on the nightstand had been enough. Michael moves off of him a bit when Ryan adjusts closer to the center of the bed. This is also exactly why the largest bed was not enough bed for five grown men.

"You're like really sweaty," Michael comments idly. The cold sweat that coats Ryan thinly is a little gross, he’ll admit to that. That’s definitely new. Ryan decides that perhaps he should have a talk with Caleb at some point. RT doctors were supposed to be trained in a wide range of alignments, after all. Even if he could only give him something to sleep, that would be enough.

"Is it hot in here or is it just me?" Michael muses. Ryan stares at him for a moment. When Michael grins and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, he can't help but laugh.

"It's just you," Ryan agrees and Michael climbs on top of him a bit to kiss him again. Ryan grasps his waist automatically and with the little affections, any bad dreams disappear. Michael climbs over him to get out of bed, tiredly scratching the back of his head as he goes, and Ryan isn't far behind him. He uses a hotel towel to wipe his face and neck clean and plans to take a shower preferably soon.

Jack is still fast asleep on the other side of the bed, huddled into the warm blankets and snoring away without a care. If anything, the others seem to be sleeping much better than Ryan.

The smell of coffee permeates the rest of the hotel room. Geoff peers over the back of his chair to watch them emerge from the room and Ray spares a half glance from out of the bundle he's still wrapped in. They were not morning people. Gavin, unfortunately, is slightly more of a morning person.

Ryan can already tell this isn't going to end well by the several arrows embedded in the far wall of the room. Gavin nocks another as Michael wanders past him to grab his first cup of coffee. The arrow lands with a heavy thump and Ryan is absolutely sure Gavin's going to end up electrocuting someone. Whether it turns out to be one of them or an unfortunate maid is currently unclear.

"This thing's bloody top!" he says happily, smiling at no one specific. "Are you going to get me one, Geoff? Please?"

"How much do you want for that fucking thing?" Geoff asks, nodding his head at Ray. Ryan flops down on the loveseat beside him and Geoff hands him the paper he's finished reading. There’s nothing particularly interesting in it. The paper never covered any of their shenanigans.

"Point me to some kush and it's yours," Ray replies. It's not like he needs a bow anymore, anyways. Besides, bows tended not to be the greatest choice in a gunfight. If it keeps Gavin amused, it's worth something.

"Michael," Geoff says as he points to Michael. Then he points back to Ray instructively.

"I'll hook you up," Michael assures with a short head nod. Gavin makes a pleased noise. If the arrows in the wall are anything to go off of, he's actually a pretty good shot with it. Ray appears to be more or less nodding off in his little blanket cocoon, closing his eyes for a few minutes then opening them momentarily before closing them again. When Michael comes to sit along side him, he comes around a little bit more, offering him a mute smile. Michael scoffs at him a bit in reply but it’s a friendly scoff.

"We've been trying to find Ridley," Geoff explains as he leans back and rests his arm behind Ryan. Michael passes him a mug of coffee that Ryan only needs a sip of to know he doesn't want. How could such a nice hotel have such bad coffee?

"She's good at covering her tracks," Ray informs blandly. He pokes a hand out of his blanket to look at his phone with only mild interest. "With Joel and Adam helping her, it's impossible."

"It's not impossible," Geoff assures.

"No, it's pretty impossible," Ray says. Geoff rolls his eyes.

"Ridley will come to us before we find her," Michael insists after he's downed half his mug in his best attempt at not tasting it. That's about as much as he manages before Gavin tosses him a red bull from the fridge stock.

"Which is why we need to get tabs on her," Geoff agrees. "We know she's after Ryan and Ray so we know she'll try to take them alive."

"So why don't we just bait her?" Gavin inquires. "She's going to try and sneak up on us, anyways."

"Ridley's too smart for that," Michael murmurs. "She won't try to fight us all at once, either. She'll want to separate us."

"Because we're so great at staying together otherwise," Ryan adds in helpfully. They were going to end up separated regardless of what Ridley did. "I think we shouldn't be focusing all of our attention on Ridley."

"Why? Is some other dangerous chick going to come after us?" Geoff asks sarcastically. He says it like that’s some kind of joke, forgetting that _yes_ , that might, and probably will, happen.

"Maybe," Ryan replies bluntly. "I think Joel and Adam are working for Republica."

"No shit," Michael answers plainly. "We already fucking knew that."

"You're not understanding. Republica probably sent them to assure someone, anyone, is able to claim the bounty on us. They're trying to even the playing field," Ryan explains. He can't be for sure, but the way Joel spoke, he's pretty positive. It doesn’t have to work out right but eventually, they’ll get tired, and it’ll just happen that much sooner with Joel and Adam assisting every no named gang with a sweet tooth for cash.

"So what? Are they just going to keep helping people that want to kill us?" Gavin questions.

"Basically," Ryan nods. Knowing Republica, though, that was just scratching the surface. "We should keep Ridley at a distance for now. As long as she's alive and somewhat well, they hopefully won't move on to assisting anyone else."

"Ridley's pretty dangerous," Ray murmurs apprehensively. "I doubt whoever they help next is going to be as much of a problem."

"We don't know that, though," Ryan argues. Ray only shrugs.

"Yeah, whatever. Your crew," he mumbles and it's clear he's not really going to defend his point.

"Okay, but you're forgetting that Ridley is definitely going to come here," Michael repeats. "Don't fucking underestimate her."

"If she does come here, we'll take care of her. Otherwise, we just need to buy some time," Geoff finally announces. That’s their own sane choice right now. If Adam and Joel really were working for Republica, there would be no cutting the contract. "Better knowing what we're up against now."

"Is it though?" Ray inquires with a touch of sarcasm.

"Whose crew is this again?" Geoff replies scathingly. Ray raises his hands from under his blanket submissively.

"Just saying.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so. this isn't done with [if that isn't obvious], but i can already assure there's going to be a sequel [cough planning far ahead] but i was wondering if you'd be interested in like a prequel? or maybe a series of one shots instead that would probably rely heavily on requests?? ~~or both?~~   
>  Either way, thank you again for your continued support and dfghjk comments and kudos. you're fantastic ok. origami is out now [if you like r&r connection and smut]. tune in next week when we continue down the rabbit hole


	12. Got a Story to Tell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings; forced drug use, non consensual drug use [two completely unrelated instances], forced alcohol consumption

Ray holds a breath deep in his chest and after a few moments, exhales out the sweet smoke that clouds up in the air around him. The hotel room is fairly big and despite not having many windows that open, the smoke from his bong evaporates easily into the air. The crew doesn't complain at any rate.

He busies himself with watching the hotel security cameras on Ryan's laptop for the morning. Though it will be unlikely that Ridley shows up on any of the cameras considering there were so many blind spots in the footage, it gives him something to do while he waits. It isn't like she's going to sneak in, anyways. She will have to do something big to force them to split up. Or, he thinks, something smart. Ray figures if he goes with Ryan and Michael, they can take her out easy.

That's up to Geoff though. Which is fine with Ray. Regardless of who he goes with, even if he goes with no one, it will get done. Honestly, he could have taken Ridley out with that arrow but then her 'friends' would have fled and it would have been a whole ordeal to hunt them out again. Ray doesn't want to make any more work for himself than necessary.

For the most part, Ray is alone right now. Gavin and Jack are in the bedroom, Michael is scrounging up some food from the hotel, and Geoff and Ryan are scoping out the floor for anything suspicious. Flynt sits at the end of the couch but she seems to understand Ray doesn't care for her company and keeps her distance.

She's just so fucking big, okay. Ray is not going to get eaten by a dog. It's not going to happen.

"Ray!" Geoff’s voice. He doesn’t sound happy.

Ray nearly fumbles his bong at the sudden shout. For some reason, Geoff has the uncanny ability to completely bypass all of Ray’s ingrain warning lights. Many times now he’s been able to sneak up on Ray for reasons that are completely inane. Where is the drunk today? Who knows! Not Ray.

“Geoff?” Ray replies curiously. Geoff’s yelling alerts Jack and Gavin in the bedroom as well, the pair of them wandering out to find out what the noise is about. It’s a bit concerning that Ray doesn’t know what this is about. He can’t think of a reason for Geoff to be upset now of all times. He hasn’t even done anything today. Ryan is right on Geoff’s heels when they re-enter the hotel room and not far behind him is Michael.

Behind Ryan’s mask, Ray is unsure of his expression.

“You fucking asshole!” Geoff snaps. Ray isn’t entirely sure what to do with himself when Geoff grabs the front of his shirt and yanks him clean off the couch. He remains calm as he’s manhandled against one wall and pinned there with Geoff’s strength. This really isn’t a place Ray wants to be especially when he doesn’t know what’s going on. Defensively, Ray grabs at Geoff’s wrists, knowing that if things got bad, he will need to act fast. He’s been in a fight with Geoff before and he had been in much better condition then than he is now.

“What’s going on, Geoff?” Gavin questions cautiously. As Ray learned the first time, the rest of the crew absolutely won’t try to get between Geoff and his target while he’s like this. That’s quite unfortunate for Ray.

“This fucking asshole has been lying to us,” Geoff growls. Ray feels his heart beat quicken and he hopes dearly that he is the only one that can hear it. He does not let this concern spread to his face.

“What are you talking about?” he insists. It’s not entirely false, anyways. This could be something completely minor. He’s seen Geoff react violently over some of the smallest things. Deep down, Ray knows that isn’t what’s happening.

“Joel told us you never left Republica,” Geoff snaps. Ray tries to control himself; control the concern that is very rapidly fading into dread. What the fuck is Joel doing? “You’ve been planning on taking Ryan back to them from the very beginning! You fucker!”

Geoff slams him hard against the wall, cracking Ray’s head with a heavy ‘thud’. It disorients him something horrible and Ray finds it hard to shake off the dizziness that comes with it. He flinches his eyes closed. This isn’t good. This is the furthest thing from good. Even then, Ray remains uncracked.

“Geoff,” Ray replies with a hint of irritation. “You realise Joel is lying to you, right? If he turns you against me, you’ll be losing your best defense and you'll be wide open to an attack. Ask Ryan,” he insists, glancing toward Ryan’s mask for his reassurance. As it is, though, Ryan remains unnervingly silent. Surely Ryan isn’t going to believe Joel over him. Why would he do that?

“ _Really_?” Geoff growls back, putting more weight on Ray’s chest. He feels like he’s going to suffocate. “Because he was awfully ‘convincing’.”

“Are you serious?” Ray bites back sharply and he tries to shove Geoff off of him but it doesn’t work out in his favor. Geoff only bares down on him harder, compressing Ray's chest between he and the wall with malicious intent. They all know Ray hasn’t quite healed up all the way; his shoulders, his stitches, his lungs. This isn’t a fight he can win. This isn’t a fight he wants to have.

“Then explain why there’s a contract in your name saying you’re going to bring Ryan back to Republica for ‘further investigation’! What the fuck is that about, huh‽ Is Joel lying about that‽” Geoff shouts at him. Ray flinches back automatically and he doesn’t mean to. ‘Yes’, is what he means to say. It’s what he _needs_ to say, but it doesn’t leave his mouth.

“I- I-” Ray babbles out inelegantly against his will. Words fail to form. Why was his contract out? Why had Joel _shared_ his contract with them? These guys would kill him.

“I guess Republica doesn’t trust him to complete the job anymore,” Ryan finally speaks. Ray’s heart lurches. Had Republica really cancelled his contract right in the middle of a job? Then again, how else would Joel have gotten a copy of it? Panic sets in quickly and it’s overwhelming. He can barely see straight when Geoff slams him against the wall again and nearly knocks him out. This is his execution. This is what he got for hiding Ryan all these years. He should have seen this coming.

“Joel is lying to you,” Ray says a bit firmer. He tightens his grip on Geoff’s wrists but they’re too close together for him to attempt any kind of escape. Geoff could probably feel his heart beating a thousand miles a minute and it’s a dead give away.

“He’s not,” Ryan says bluntly. “You are, Ray.”

“Ryan,” Ray gasps out. When he doesn’t get the desired reply, he turns back to Geoff desperately, immediately putting on the most pathetic show he can manage. It’s pretty easy when he’s absolutely terrified for his life. “Geoff please. I’m here to help you. I told you this from the beginning.”

“Then why did you drop this?” Geoff demands. Ryan flickers out a little bag he has curled in his hand. Ray absolutely loathes himself for making such a stupid mistake like dropping something, but this situation could still be salvageable. It has to be. “You think you can just come to my city, pop a few drugs in our drinks, and drag us to the chopping block? You’ve made a big fucking mistake, Narvaez.”

“That’s not-” Ray tries only to be cut off violently by Geoff’s hands around his throat. He struggles fiercely for a moment but quickly understands that it only makes him grip harder. Now would be the time to talk and talk fast. “That’s a stimulant! Republica uses it to boost productivity! I picked it from Joel!”

“Then prove it,” Geoff hisses. Though one hand remains impossibly tight around Ray’s throat, the other releases him in order to take the little package from Ryan. Horror sets in when Ray realises he can’t. _He can’t_.

“Geoff, Geoff,” Ray begs despairingly as he claws at Geoff's wrist. “I can’t Geoff. It’ll kill me. Ryan tell him. Ryan _please_.” His pleas are met with deaf ears. He struggles weakly as Geoff grabs his chin hard and forces his fingers into his cheeks. Self preservation tells him to do anything- everything to get Geoff off of him right now but all he really manages to do is trigger a panic attack, his heart tearing violent pain through his chest. Ray shoves against Geoff’s face, giving up completely on trying to ply his hands off, but this doesn’t fair much better. He should be able to get away from this, Ray knows that, he should have been able to see this coming.

“Help,” Ray begs hoarsely when he can not help himself. He is not the one they help. When Geoff shoves the pills into his mouth, Ray tries to push them out with his tongue but it doesn’t work like he wants it to. Someone pours booze into his mouth and his head’s jerked back until he’s forced to choke down the pills or suffocate. The alcohol sits uncomfortably in his belly and even more unsavory in his mouth. When Geoff lets him go, beer soaked into Ray’s shirt and splashed across the floor, Ray collapses on himself.

A single dose of MK is enough to kill him on a good day. Five times that amount is just overkill. Already he can feel his heart violently thrashing in his chest but he doesn’t know if it’s the drug or the panic attack he’s currently suffering through. Ray grabs at his throat, the raw, burning sensation causing him to cough on gasps of breath he just can’t get down. He ignores the pain in his heart because there’s nothing he can do about it and focuses on what he can do.

If he can induce vomiting and balance out the acidity, then he could at least save his stomach from literally melting away. Immediately, Ray knows this isn’t going to work. To balance out that much MK- he’d have to eat an entire box of baking soda. Just trying to throw it up would probably melt a hole through his throat; the alcohol causing it to become far more potent far faster than it ever would be on its own.

The adrenaline causes his sight to dim but the amphetamine keeps him wide awake. He’s going to fucking die. Blood drips from his busted lips and pools between his hands at an alarming pace. Ray watches his hands shake and he covers his mouth in a foolish attempt to keep his blood inside of him where it absolutely should be. Even under the loud ringing in his ears, Ray can hear Geoff laugh.

Ray glances up shakily, staring wide eyes up at him. Ryan joins him and then they’re all laughing. They’re laughing at him die. So Ray laughs. He laughs and with every sound, blood sprays across the floor and his lungs cry out for relief that doesn't come. This is what he deserves, isn’t it? This is what he gets for trusting people; for trusting Republica, for trusting Joel, for trusting Ryan.

Ryan tried to teach him a lesson and he just hadn’t listened.

A pain sharper than the rest clears up Ray’s vision all at once and he blinks his eyes open into the darkness of the hotel room. Immediately, the familiar sensation creeps across his chest and he sits up to double over on himself in agony. He’s awaken himself with panic attacks before but generally they aren’t caused by the dream itself. Slowly, he makes himself breathe and get a grip of himself.

A wet nose touches one of his legs and Ray nearly jumps out of his skin.

“Jesus Christ!” is a fair reaction to suddenly being aware of the massive canine right next to him, her wet face slobbering all over his knee. Ray pushes Flynt away from him hurriedly and weirdly enough, she takes the hint. Whatever calming he had been working on has successfully gone out the window now, his heart beating even harder and nearly bringing him to gasps. He reaches for his bag and quickly rifles through to find his pills. The lights switch on and Ray scrunches his face up as he glances toward the door curiously.

Flynt looks back at him with a small head tilt. Did she turn on the lights? Ray watches her pad away from the lights and into the kitchen as he twists the top off the bottle and absently pours a couple pills into his palm. She opens the little fridge door and pops her head inside before trotting back towards the couch to where Ray sleeps. In her maw she holds a bottle of water. Flynt practically hands it to him, her gentle grip not crinkling the fragile bottle even remotely. Tentatively, Ray takes it despite being a little wary about putting his hands so close to her mouth.

He watches her carefully while he opens the bottle and swallows down his pills with a gulp of water. It doesn’t seem like he’s awaken anyone else fortunately, now that he’s shouted at the dog. Then again, the crew does seem to already sleep like rocks. Flynt rests her head on his knee affectionately and attempts to love on him a bit. Cautiously, Ray pets her head and she doesn’t eat his hand.

“You’re not a fucking drug dog,” Ray murmurs mostly to himself. “You’re a service dog.” Okay, he would admit, maybe this wasn’t a dog he needed to be scared of. Man, she didn’t even have all her teeth. He gives her a couple more easy pets before pushing her away from him again. She was still a pretty fucking big dog and for now, Ray would just prefer she kept her distance. Flynt obliges without much complaint, quietly plopping herself down a bit of a ways away from him where she can still watch him but won’t bother him.

Ray glances into the little orange pill bottle in his hand and takes a guess as to how many are left. Still half full. He’ll need to have Caleb refill them before the month is up undoubtedly. He caps it again and squirrels it back away into his bag. As his irrational panic subsides gradually and the tension on his chest eases up, Ray lies back down. Flynt turns the lights off again and returns to her watchful spot quietly.

For Ray, it’s simple to fall asleep in a moments notice. Admittedly, his medication probably assisted in that but it’s a skill someone like him has to perfect especially when sleep was hard to come by. He needs the rest whether it’s pleasant or not. The dreams, fortunately, stay away this time.

\- x -

“That’s an O!”

"God dammit," Geoff curses under his breath as Ray smirks. "How the fuck does Gavin have an R on him?"

"Uh, Gavin is better at this than you are?" Michael points out. If Ryan had thought the bow was a bad idea before, he thinks doubly so now. Not necessarily because of the bow itself but because of this inane game they've began playing with it. Some sort of archery version of HORSE mixed in with truth or truth. There's nothing Ryan loves more than Ray sharing things about their past together. Most of it has been fairly harmless so far though, so he doesn’t actively complain.

"Leave it to you to be good at something so worthless," Geoff grumbles sourly. "I'm going to go ahead and guess that most Republicans can catch arrows because why the hell not."

"Well," Ray says and he glances toward Ryan suggestively. Ryan spares a quick look away from the television screen. He doesn’t like that look. "When Ryan's reflexes were better-" he trails off.

"My reflexes are fine," Ryan promises. "But let's go ahead and not shoot arrows at each other for today."

"If your reflexes are 'fine', why are you going o and four with headshots right now?" Jack inquires, gesturing towards the game he, Michael, and Ryan are currently wrapped up in.

"Are you honestly equating my ability to shoot a fake gun at a fake person in a videogame to my ability to catch an arrow?" Ryan replies blandly. Everyone nods unanimously and Ryan scoffs a quiet sound. He couldn’t argue with that apparently.

"Alright asshole," Geoff says as he turns his attention back on Ray. "What's your question and I'm still not answering anything about how we have sex, alright?"

"That's just so many penises," Ray insists in a murmur like the very idea awes him. He hands the bow to Gavin, though, who takes the time to consider his next shot. A large part of why Ray can't duplicate Gavin's shots is because they are dumb and based largely on luck. Ray knows this, he just obviously doesn't mind. "So what's up with your fake wife, then?"

"She's not a fake wife for starters," Geoff assures him in clear annoyance. "We are actually married."

"Yeah and you actually have boyfriends out the butthole," Ray points out.

"And in the butthole," Michael agrees. Ray points at him affirmatively. Geoff ignores both comments.

"We're queer platonic," he explains. Ray glances up into space as he tries to recall if he knows what that means. He probably doesn't but he's smart enough to put it together.

"So you're gay best friends?" is the curious question.

"God, I hate to say this, but that's kind if right," Geoff grumbles reluctantly with a slight nod of the head.

"So she _is_ a fake wife," Ray repeats.

"Alright, new game," Geoff says irritably. "Next person to call my wife fake gets knocked out."

"Point made," Ray promises quickly as he steps out of Geoff’s swing range. He turns towards Gavin again expectantly, ready for the next round of this horrible game. Gavin holds an empty bottle in one hand, grinning clear across his face.

"Hold this for me, Geoff," he insists as he tries to hand it over.

"I'm not holding dicks, dude," Geoff replies bluntly. Much like Ryan, he does not want to be shot with a fucking arrow.

"Come on. It'll be fine," Gavin persuades with a fond smile. It doesn't work on Geoff. Understanding he's not going to convince Geoff, Gavin frowns a bit and quickly tries to find another victim. "Ryan?"

"Nu uh," Ryan deadpans immediately with a shake of the head. Gavin pouts.

"I'll hold it," Ray assures, clearly not sure why Gavin didn't just ask him in the first place. Of course, Gavin was likely just waiting on Ray to offer.

"This is how Ray dies," Michael comments idly. "A misfired arrow in a game if horse. Rip."

"No," Gavin says as if greatly insulted by the very idea. "It'll be fine," he repeats again. That's a classic sign of it not being fine.

"The human body can take a lot of arrows," Ray informs. Is it really any surprise that he would know something like that? Even if Ryan knew that, too, actually. The human body could actually take a ridiculous amount of arrows which is exactly why it wasn’t the best of choices in a firefight.

"Yeah, say that when he hits you square in the forehead," Geoff scoffs.

"That is actually pretty survivable," Ray assures him. "God, there was this guy that fell on a crowbar. Just all kinds of embedded in his skull and-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Geoff says sharply, gesturing Ray to be quiet. Ray ends his story impromptly. Gavin motions Ray to stand against the wall they've been shooting at and hold the bottle on its side with the bottom flush against the wall. Obviously understanding what he intends to do, Ray grabs a hand towel and wraps around the bottle to protect his hand.

"Right in the hole," Gavin announces as he nocks an arrow. Whether Gavin actually knows how arrows fly or not is unclear but irrelevant. It's a perfectly doable shot, especially at such close distance, it's just strongly based on luck. Or what disguises itself as luck, anyways.

Ray doesn't even flinch when Gavin lets his arrow fly. Realistically, even if he knew it would hit him, would he have flinched? The arrow passes through the opening of the bottle easily and hits the inner bottom with great force, shattering it into pieces instantaneously. Gavin looks so absolutely proud of himself. He has every right to be. That is a very difficult shot to make for someone who's never held a bow until recently. Even Ray looks impressed, flexing his hand slowly to assure there's no cuts on his palm.

His excitement is short lived. The power in the hotel room goes out suddenly, leaving them in unfortunate dimness. It isn't pitch black, thankfully, but that's silver lining on bad news. Michael curses loudly moments after the television goes out, realising all of the work they've done in game has gone straight out the window.

"God dammit, Gavin," Geoff says with a sigh. Gavin quickly babbles out a series of mysterious noises before finding real words.

"Wot! You're blaming me for this‽ Seriously‽" he yelps loudly. Ryan reaches for his laptop but he already has a feeling he knows what's happening. Geoff motions to the arrow freshly embedded in the wall like that would be enough to cut power to everything in the room.

"Ridley's here," Ray informs plainly.

"I fucking told you," Michael snaps irritably. "I fucking told you she'd show up here."

"Uh," Ryan begins as he looks over the security video from the rest of the hotel. It looks like only the power to their floor has been cut. "Ridley is here, yeah," he trails off.

"Don't tell me," Geoff instructs. He doesn't want to hear it. Ryan tells him anyways.

"She has Caleb and Kerry," he says like ripping off a bandaid. Geoff groans loudly and drags his hands down his face dramatically. This isn't that surprising. Fairly, she's too smart to take Lindsay and Caleb had been on his way over to check on Ray again so it would have been easy pickings.

"What the fuck did I tell you?" Michael huffs angrily. "She's going to split us up."

"Ridley's on the roof with Kerry," Ryan agrees. "Caleb's in the basement." Or in other words, as far away from each other as possible. Already, everyone moves into action, grabbing idle weapons and necessary equipment. Of course they were going to save them.

"If she wants us to split up, then fine," Geoff speaks once he's made up his mind. "Gents to the roof. We're going to take care of Ridley right now and grab Kerry. Lads, you go to the basement and help Caleb. Everyone understand?" Obviously Ridley isn't that smart if she thinks dividing them in half would make an easy fight. As expected, her numbers are minimum and this will be over quick. Everyone agrees with nods and quiet approval with the exception of Ray.

"What should I do, Geoff?" he inquires curiously. Geoff sighs pointedly loud.

"Gents, roof. Lads, basement," Geoff repeats with clear hand movements as if to make his plan more obvious. "What part of that was hard to understand?"

Ray isn't completely positive what Geoff is alluding to but he doesn't want to ask any unnecessary questions. Instead, he just sort of inquisitively points to himself and then to Gavin and Michael. Geoff nods sarcastically slow and offers Ray a scathing thumbs up. Ray returns the gesture without any hints of bitterness or agitation. Geoff's varying degrees of attitude simply don't bother him.

Of course Ray hadn't assumed himself to be in either of those groups. Why would he have? He makes no complaint about it, though, more than content to be lumped in with the Lads. It had been his idea in the first place, hadn't it? Ryan wonders if Geoff even remembers that.

"Come on, Flynt," Gavin calls to the dog as he heads for the door right behind Michael. It is fortunate they hadn't handed her over to Caleb yet.

"Gavin," Geoff says tiredly. "Get a fucking vest on her before I end up very sad." He gestures to one of their bags and Gavin lights up like that's a good idea. Maybe it is a better idea to leave her in the hotel room or maybe that's just Ryan. Gavin grabs an extra vest and the four of them head out of the room to start towards the basement.

Ryan tucks his laptop into his bag and tosses it over his shoulder for safe keeping. He wants to be able to keep eyes on the lads if things start to go bad. There were definitely more guys on the way to the roof, Ridley clearly wanting them to protect her more than Caleb, but there's always room for things to go bad.

He loads his pistol and sheaths it along with a pair of knives before assuring Geoff that he's ready. Jack offers up sign of finishing his own preparation and they follow Geoff's lead out the door. Already people from other rooms are standing about the hall in confusion, likely trying to figure out what happened to their power.

Ryan's mask acts as a sort of deterrent for these people, allowing them to walk the halls without being bothered. Geoff drags an unfortunate man out of the elevator and his family hurriedly follows him. Smart people keep their mouths shut. Jack hits the button for the top floor and as the doors close, Ryan twirls one of his knives out.

They'd have to walk through two floors of people before reaching the roof, but they also had the advantage. Ryan plies the panel off of the elevator wall by sliding the blade of his knife along the edge. When they come to a stop, he makes sure the doors stay closed by ripping out a handful of wires. Elevators were very finicky. One out of place wire and they wouldn't move.

"I thought you were supposed to be the tech guy," Jack murmurs under his breath teasingly as he eyes the loose wires in Ryan's hand.

"I am," Ryan promises. "We're stopped, aren't we?" Hey, not everything had to be done so carefully. Besides, it isn't like they had a bunch of time on the way up here.

"I'm pretty sure even Gavin could have done that," Jack replies.

"Gavin also could have dropped you forty floors down so," Ryan reminds.

"Don't say that," Geoff says quickly, his skin crawling at the very thought. There is nothing to worry about. Ripping a bunch of strange wires out of a metal box of death suspended hundreds of feet up an elevator shaft is perfectly safe. Mostly.

Jack grins a bit but he makes no further mention of it as he hands Ryan a crowbar. Ryan takes up the right side, jamming the end between the tightly closed doors, and Jack takes the left, mirroring his action. Geoff pulls two grenades from the small armory he has with him and as Ryan and Jack ply the elevator doors open just slightly, he rolls them down the hall.

"Grenade! Take cover!" Outside, people yell words that mean little to Ryan. They had been waiting, of course, which is exactly why the elevator was the safest place. Geoff moves out of the way of the forced opening and hides against the shielded wall alongside Ryan. Smoke immediately fills the area, some of it leaking into the elevator, and seconds later the grenade goes off. Shouting signifies a certain degree of effectiveness.

Swiftly, Ryan and Jack pull the elevator doors open with great effort, giving Geoff the room to use his pistol to clear out blinded and disoriented enemies that had avoided the explosion. Once the doors are open enough to move through, Geoff offensively moves forward and Ryan covers his side. Jack bashes a room door open and swiftly assures there's no one inside.

"Clear!" he alerts and they take cover in the empty room while the smoke clears. There's still rustling in the hall and the stray gun shots that pepper the doorway gives them a rough idea that maybe there's still people around.

Ryan clips a guy trying to sneak up on their door and Geoff tosses another grenade around the corner. A few seconds after it goes off, the fire sprinklers come on. A little late, Ryan thinks.

"Jack," Geoff instructs and he nods his head towards the door. Jack looks away from the outside door he's watching before nodding his confirmation. He puts his pistol away to switch to heavier fire. Geoff steps away from the door and Ryan makes sure no one's coming up on them before Jack steps out with his assault rifle.

All the commotion should have lured everyone down to the same floor if they're lucky. Even if they're not, three against, what? Fifteen, twenty maybe, is child's play. Ryan and Geoff cover Jack as he cuts down the few guys still standing. A stray bullet grazes Ryan's shoulder and Jack takes one straight in the vest, but that's all that counts their injuries.

Once the floor is cleared, and thoroughly soaked, they head for the stairs. When they reach the door, there's a creaking sound. Jack peers over his shoulder. There's a solid forty five seconds between the elevator dropping and the massive thud that echoes up from where it impacts forty floors down.

Geoff and Jack both turn to Ryan.

"Don't look at me like that. We weren't in it," Ryan shrugs. Hey, he said 'mostly'.

"Jesus fucking dicks," Geoff says as he shakes his head and starts up the stairs again. Jack keeps to his side and Ryan watches their back. The second floor only has a few stragglers who, for whatever reason, hadn't followed their comrades into the fiery explosions. They're handled easily.

Geoff stops them at the door leading to the roof. He doesn't trust Ridley not to have a counter measure and both he and Ryan check the door for any trip wires before cautiously moving through. They watch their steps and move silently. She knows they're up here, if the grenades weren't enough of an alert, but they could still surprise her.

The outside door is treated with twice as much caution but there remains no obvious trap. Geoff pokes only his gun out the door before quickly kicking it wide open. There's no one up here. Ryan peers around the backside of the stairwell, but no one's hiding behind it. Had she fled already?

"Guys?" Kerry calls nervously.

"Kerry!" Jack yelps, quickly shoving his assault rifle into Geoff's hands as he approaches the edge of the building where Kerry is hanging upside down. He gets down on his hands and knees immediately and Ryan moves to help him pull Kerry up. The rope that's tied around his legs isn't exactly the strongest. It's a good thing they got here when they did.

"Where's Ridley?" Geoff questions in perplexity. Once on solid ground and with blood not rushing to his face anymore, Kerry can only sit with his head in his hands. He's incredibly disoriented, unsurprisingly.

"Who?" he answers, confused for more reasons than the blood pooling in his head.

"The scary woman that dragged you up here, Kerry!" Geoff barks. Kerry looks up at him for a moment as he tries to gather his swimming thoughts.

"I don't know," he remarks finally.

"He was hanging off a building," Jack says. Geoff scoffs like that isn't a good excuse. Ryan doesn't spend much time dwelling on it, though, instead moving to retrieve his laptop and check on the lads. There was a good chance if she wasn't here, then she'll be down there. He has to scroll through several cameras to find anyone.

The others hover over him as he does. When he finally spots Ray, he's by himself. That isn't a good sign. However, the basement is far more complicated than the roof and they would have needed to separate to cover it all. Ray is pressed against a wall with his pistol out as he quietly stalks through the dim halls. Already, several bodies are dead on the ground. The lads had clearly taken a more silent approach.

Ryan flips through a few more cameras to find the others. He finds Ridley first. He was wrong, _this_ isn't a good sign. She crouched in the middle of what looks like a maintenance room, rubbing Flynt behind her ears warmly. Worst dog ever. Gavin isn't far off, squirming insistently against the hold a man much bigger than him has on his throat. He might as well have been held by a brick wall.

Worse still, Michael is already in trouble of his own. A rope is tied around his neck and he dangles from one of the shelves in the room. He pulls at the rope desperately, having to stand on his tip toes to prevent from being choked by it. If he lets go or if he loses his footing, it's not going to be good.

"Hey guys," Kerry says. Before Geoff can tell him to shut up, he continues. "This door's locked."

"What‽" Jack yelps. He rushes over to see for himself, yanking at the metal violently. Kerry immediately moves out of the way. The door doesn't budge. That is just fantastic. Jack takes a few well aimed shots at the handle, but it does nothing to unlock it. "God _dammit_!"

Ryan turns back to his screen. So they were trapped on the roof while Michael and Gavin were being held hostage. Right. They just had to trust Ray completely to do everything. Maybe Ryan's a little worried. Maybe he's a lot worried. If Ridley left with just one of them, it would be Ray. Ryan isn't even sure if Ray would trade himself for Gavin and Michael's safety. He is definitely about to find out.

Ray appears in the room Ridley is in suddenly with his gun out in front. She glances at him minutely and smiles as Ray takes in the situation. He lowers his gun slowly. Hostage situations had never been Ray's strong suit. God, Ryan wishes theses cameras had sound.

Ridley stands to greet him, talking words that Ryan can't make out properly. He jerks his mask off as if it'll help but the camera quality is simply too poor and Ryan's ability to read lips not excellent. Ridley laughs and she motions to Gavin with a flourish of her hand. Ray sheaths his gun.

"What's going on?" Geoff insists. Ryan glares at him coldly.

"Geoff, you're seeing the same thing I'm seeing," he snaps brashly. "What do you expect me to tell you?"

"Don't fucking get snippy with me, Mr. Super Mercenary," Geoff snaps back. Ridley gestures Ray towards her and with visible reluctance, Ray approaches her. She takes Ray's gun and slides it across the floor easily. Ryan really hopes that's not his only weapon, but regrettably, he knows better. Ray stopped being armed to the teeth so the crew would stop being so tense around him.

Ridley grabs Ray's wrist suddenly and jerks it upward violently. Her smile turns venomous all to quick as she draws the knife from under her shirt that Ray was undoubtedly trying to pick from her. She holds the blade between her fingers delicately and with her other hand, she drapes Ray's hand on her waist.

There's no hesitation as Ridley turns just enough to chuck the knife clear across the room and embed it deep in Michael's thigh. He roars harshly, nearly losing his footing when he thrashes. Ridley grins down at Ray again. She talks some more, coasting a hand through the back of his head as she does.

"Is she- is she trying to seduce him?" Geoff asks but it's not directed at anyone in particular. Ryan is fairly sure she's trying to drug him, but he supposes that doesn't make Geoff wrong. Ridley nuzzles Ray against her chest and Geoff laughs. "Oh what? Joel and Adam forgot to mention he's gay?"

Ryan pauses a little, sparring Geoff a short look and arched brow. The man holding Gavin drops him rather abruptly and Gavin falls to his knees as he tries to regain himself. Flynt trots over to him gladly and licks his face as Gavin gives her a scolding look.

"You know Ray isn't gay, right?" Ryan says idly.

"What? Really?" Geoff replies, clearly being completely unaware of this. Ryan isn't that surprised, honestly. Why would Geoff even care?

"Is now really the best time?" Jack snaps.

"Geoff," Ryan murmurs even as his attention remains glued to the screen. "You, yourself, are bisexual, why would you assume Ray is gay?"

"I dunno!" Geoff huffs indignantly. "Just look at him!"

"You have a fucking handle bar mustache," Ryan argues.

"Are you calling my mustache gay?" Geoff questions with a pointed look. Ryan decides to agree with Jack; now so isn't the time. Ridley and Ray seem to talk for a bit longer, Gavin interrupting periodically but making no movement to actually do anything. Ryan can't hear what's going on to know if this is the right choice.

Then Ridley kisses Ray and wow if that isn't annoying. Not as annoying as hitting Michael with a knife, but pretty fucking annoying all the same. It's not a light kiss, either and when she moves away from him, her smile seems so much sharper. Ryan grinds his teeth a little.

From there, Ridley moves to exit the room with her brick of wall bodyguard. Neither Ray or Gavin move to stop her. She would be heading up here next. Oh, she'll have a much worse fight on her hands. The door opens out of the blue and Jack is right on top of it. The lone guy, likely someone they missed on the way up, is immediately incapacitated with a solid fist and the door held open carefully.

"Let's go," Jack instructs swiftly, motioning them through the newly opened door. Ryan crams his laptop back into his bag without a second thought and follows Geoff and Kerry into the stair shaft. Jack's right on their heels as they make their way down the stairs as quickly as possible. Why did this building have to be so tall?

Kerry gives up about four flights down and Jack has to carry him from there. On the bright side, with both elevators out, Ridley will also have to take the stairs. That's what Ryan thinks at least but when they finally get to the basement with no sign of her, he wonders if he's wrong. If she hadn't gone to the roof, where had she gone.

Ryan finds the answer pretty quickly. Ridley lies dead in the hall not far from the maintenance room. Geoff stops long enough to check her pulse before hurrying after Jack into the room. By now, Michael is safely on the ground and any immediate threats are gone. Ridley's bodyguard, who had likely come back when she dropped dead, lies with several holes in his face. That is definitely Gavin's handy work.

"Michael," Jack pants, dropping Kerry all at once. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Michael scoffs back, though he's holding his thigh with both hands to stop the bleeding. Judging by the blood already soaked into his jeans, it's not that bad. It could have been a lot worse.

"What happened?" Geoff demands. Ray looks up from where he's trying to wash his face in a dirty little sink. Neither Michael nor Gavin offer up any kind of reply and Geoff turns to Ray expectantly. Ray shrugs.

"We traded," he says simply.

"Ray," Ryan says urgently. "What did Ridley give you?"

"Chill," Ray murmurs calmly. "It was just LSD. I'll be fine."

"What did you give her?" Jack questions. That is a good question. Ray, however, doesn't answer. He just smiles minutely and goes back to washing his face obsessively with cold water. Geoff exchanges looks with Ryan.

"Where's Caleb? We need to get out of here," Geoff says. Michael points into a pile of dirty towels where Caleb is unconscious and Flynt is nuzzling him desperately to try and wake him up. Jack nudges her away a bit to pick him up and hoist him over his shoulder. Ryan helps Michael to his feet, allowing the lad to use him as support so he doesn't have to put pressure on his leg.

"Come on, buddy," Geoff tries to urge Ray away from the sink. Ray grimaces unhappily but allows Geoff to guide him along with the rest of them.

"Geoff please," Ray murmurs. "Don't talk so loud. I can't see where I'm going."

"Yeah, buddy," Geoff says. "It's gonna be a fun twelve hours."

\- x -

"Maybe we should leave Los Santos?" Jack suggests as they sit around their beachfront safe house. Ryan has already assured that it's definitely not safe but it will do until they find a place that is. With Ridley gone, they have a bit of grace before someone comes after them. Granted only people that Joel and Adam are helping come after them.

If they got ambushed by anyone else, they were pretty much screwed. The only bright side is that they're probably screwed anyways. Ridley is proof that Joel and Adam's first suggestion will be to take someone hostage. Next time, it will probably be one of them and next time, they probably won't get the deadweight treatment.

Already Michael can see how stressed this is making Ryan. Well, okay, Ryan's been stressed out since this whole thing started and fueling that with lack of sleep is making it potent. He wonders if Ryan thinks he's fooling anyone with his calm expression and dreary eyes. Yeah, knowing Ryan, he probably does.

"No, no, we can't," Geoff says after he thinks about for a bit. He shakes his head idly and Jack frowns in discontent. "They'll still find us. We need the advantage of owning the city more than we need places to hide."

"Right now, anyways," Ryan agrees. "We can't fight forever."

"Like hell we can't," Geoff snorts back. This is what always got them in trouble. They thought they could do more than they were actually capable of. Not that Michael disagrees with Geoff. He'd rather fight than hide any day. However, he also knew when to strategically fall back.

"There you go, Michael," Caleb informs with a content huff as he finishes binding the gouge in Michael's leg closed. No stitches necessary, Caleb assured, just some compression patches to hold the skin together and bandages to cover it. He wants to think he's lucky, Ridley absolutely could have killed him, but he knows he's not. There's no luck involved. Everything that involves these damn Republica agents happens exactly how they want it to happen.

Joel and Adam were doing nothing more than sacrificing pawns to lay the game in their favor. Michael hates it with a burning passion. At least Republica could have the guts to face two of their best agents head on and call it a day. The carnage that would insure is what they deserve.

Caleb picks himself up and Michael quickly yanks his jeans back up to cover his new set of bandages. His sternum isn't quite healed yet and nearly being hanged hadn't helped, but Caleb tells him it's fine. Unless he wants surgery done, it'll heal on its own. Michael isn't interested in any kind of surgery.

"How you doing, Ray?" Ryan inquires quietly. Ray doesn't react even remotely, eyes firmly focused on the game in hand like it's the most amazing thing he's ever seen. He's squeezed between Ryan and the side of the plush couch where he can't hurt himself in his current state. Michael has never seen anyone as high as Ray is right now.

"Ray," Ryan repeats and this time, Ray looks up at him. His pupils are absolutely shot, making his brown eyes seem a lot bigger than usual, and he looks at Ryan a bit cross eyed like he's way too close. When he blinks, it's slow and deliberate as if it's difficult to remember how. It's fucking hilarious. "Are you alright?"

Ray has too think about it for a long time, following Ryan with his eyes despite Ryan not moving at all. Whether he can actually hear or comprehend what's being said is hard to say. Finally Ray replies, "I can taste the inside of my mouth."

This is all kinds of great.

Caleb approaches him next. He pulls Ray's mouth open with his index finger and Ray sort of moves his jaw like a dog with peanut butter. When Caleb's sure Ray hasn't bitten himself, he lets go and Ray falls limp against Ryan's shoulder. Ray proves to be very malleable at the moment, allowing Caleb to stretch his leg out to prep his cast for removal.

"The clean up crew is on scene," Jack informs idly. "No sign of Joel or Adam."

"Because if we didn't see them coming, the clean up crew definitely would," Michael states sarcastically.

"We have to do something about them," Ryan says and he makes it pretty clear as to what he wants that something to be. Geoff, however, isn't so quick to agree. He glances at Ray a bit before crossing his arms irritably.

"We'll talk about this later," he answers. That's something he wants Ray's input on first and he isn't going to get that now. "We need to call it a night. Caleb, when you're done, you and Kerry need to take a taxi back home. Take Flynt with you. Lindsay will watch you guys."

"Alright, Geoff," Caleb agrees. He knows that this will probably be the last time for a while that they call for Caleb's help. It's simply getting too dangerous now. If they needed anything, they'd handle it themselves.

"Ah, I'm gonna miss you dog," Gavin murmurs, hugging Flynt around her neck fondly. Yeah, Michael's totally going to miss the dog that ran Gavin straight to Ridley. That dog is a fucking traitor. He's also pretty sure now that Flynt was her dog to begin with so Ray might actually have been right and she could have tried to eat their faces off.

"The king says; gods will fall when Oinkins rises."

Everyone kind of stops what they're doing to look at Ray who doesn't even seem aware he's spoken in the first place. He's just so serious, too. Geoff bursts into laughter and so does Michael.

"Holy shit, dude! We need a fucking camera or something. This is gold," Geoff woofs. Gavin's beside himself in laughter. It only urges small laughter from Jack but Ryan isn't even remotely amused.

"How long should this last?" he asks Caleb who can't help his own grin. He continues on sawing at Ray's cast, though, his work unbothered by the disruption.

"Well let's see, Ray is ninety pounds when he's wet and there was still a large amount of LSD in his mouth when I woke up so, you're looking at the full twelve hours _at least_. He has a ridiculously low tolerance for this stuff," Caleb explains. Ryan sighs.

"Don't be a kill joy, Ryan," Gavin insists. "Look how happy he is right now."

"I don't want to alarm you," Ray tries to whisper to Ryan but his voice is much too loud. "But I think Gavin is actually twelve Brazilian wandering spiders in disguise. 'British' my ass."

"Ray, just play your game, okay?" Ryan persuades, trying to bring Ray's attention back to his DS. Ray eyes Gavin suspiciously for a moment before doing as instructed and returning to his handheld.

"What's your problem?" Geoff scoffs in annoyment. Ryan did seem to be in a worse mood than normal on the way over here.

"My 'problem' is bad trips aren't fun," Ryan sneers. This does cut some of the amusement out of the situation. He has a point. God knows what someone like Ray would see if this started going bad. Not to mention how dangerous he could be to the rest of them.

"Hey, we're here," Geoff argues. "We can take care of him. Isn't that right, buddy?" He reaches over to grab Ray's shoulder in a friendly fashion and Ray blinks at him curiously. He goes back to his game without a word but every so often spares wary glances at Geoff's mustache.

"Yeah," Ryan murmurs a bit softer. "I guess."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> are you interested in a oneshot series? check out [this post](http://themadkingsendshismilk.tumblr.com/post/99045635194/so-guys-posting-this-from-my-tablet-because-im-a) for more details and pop me a request down below. or attach a note to a herd of very small legged cats. whatever floats your boat.  
> next time on 7na, hearts are touched. maybe figuratively. maybe not. thank you everyone!


	13. Everybody Knows About It

Jack didn't exactly volunteer to watch Ray while Geoff and Michael napped. He didn't really have to, though. Everyone just sort of fell into the same organization they always did when something needs to be done. Ryan and Gavin make use of the extra large shower that the beach house provides. Unlike motel or hotel rooms, this place is made for five full grown men to occupy and share. It is also made to withstand rocket launchers, machine guns, Molotov cocktails, and high caliber sniper rifles which makes it a fairly safe place to rest for the time being.

Nothing is as safe as they want to believe, though, and buckling down isn't an option right now. They stand a better chance moving quickly and quietly. Or what they call quietly, at least. Jack thinks 'quietly' was never really in their arsenal.

Ray is more or less easy to watch for the moment. So far, it doesn't look like he's having a bad trip and Jack finds it unlikely that it'll change in the middle. Still, they have to make sure he doesn't wander or potentially get a hold of something he could injure himself or someone else with. He is hallucinating pretty hard.

"Whatcha doing there?" Jack inquires as he comes to sit beside Ray on the couch. Fortunately, Ray is pretty easy to entertain as well. In fact, overall, he's really low maintenance. All he needs is an Xbox and a couple games and he's good to go.

"Building a house," Ray informs and if Jack didn't know any better, he would have never guessed Ray is tripping balls. Well, he might have guessed considering Ray's Minecraft 'house' consists of a bunch of random blocks hazardly laid down in a structure that in no way resembles a house. A sign sits on a hovering block that reads 'jjisgtbblz' and it makes it very hard for Jack not to laugh.

"Here," Jack instructs as he hands Ray a bottle of water. "You need to stay hydrated."

"Thanks, Ry," Ray replies. Ry? He takes the bottle without thinking about it, dropping his controller as if he expects it to stay there. Ray glances down when it doesn't before deciding to pay it no attention and twists the cap off his water. He downs it in a few massive gulps that make Jack very worried he's going to choke on before passing it back. Well, Jack had told him to drink.

Ray picks up his controller again to continue where he'd left off and Jack settles into the couch beside him. It's certainly something to watch him attempt to build anything in the state he's in, Ray hitting literally all of the buttons on his controller to perform even the simplest of tasks. He has the camera pointed at himself for a solid three minutes before he manages to hit the button again and revert it.

After some time, Ray's building picks up a sort of rhythm and becomes more methodical. It's still not a house but it's certainly something. Jack finds it interesting to watch him work though somewhat unfortunate as he knows how much Ray hates to be out of it around them. He hadn't even wanted painkillers when he was in complete, if not well hidden, agony.

Ray rests the controller in his lap again, this time shifting over on the couch to sit very close to Jack. He turns a bit to grab the hand Jack has stretched across the back of the couch and place it on his arm. Jack isn't too sure what to do about this. It's not really hurting anything. Ray just pats the hand that he's placed on his upper arm and contently goes back to his building.

It's pretty odd to see Ray need so much attention after he had so vehemently stayed away from them in the beginning. It's even odder because Jack is certain Ray is under the impression he is Ryan.

"I'm higher than I have ever been in my entire life," Ray comments. It's good that he's aware of that. "I don't know how you did it, Ry."

He absolutely thinks Jack is Ryan. The temptation is definitely there. If Jack wants to know anything Ray would only tell Ryan, now is the time to ask. As it is, Jack finds there's nothing. It's not that he can't think of anything, he knows there's a lot of questions Geoff would love the answers to, it's that Jack doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want to take advantage of the state Ray's in even if Ray takes every advantage he can get.

Besides, Jack is well aware that unfiltered responses aren't exactly something he, or anyone else, needs to hear. Ray and even more so, Ryan, are careful with their words for a reason. Unsaid things to better consequences.

"Ray," Jack says quietly. "I'm not Ryan, I'm Jack." Ray looks at him rather abruptly, almost appearing startled. At first, Jack thinks it's because he's realised how cuddly he is getting with someone not Ryan. However, Ray simply turns away all at once and looks down at the floor cautiously.

"The heavy medic continues to be unaware if the very tiny, very strong people living in his beard," he murmurs to himself. "They appear to be working with the twelve wandering spiders to defeat the alien on Geoff's face. More news at nine."

Jesus fucking Christ. When Jack laughs, it doesn't bother Ray even remotely. He's going to fucking piss himself! It takes him a minute but Jack steadies himself a bit, drawing back his laughter as to not disturb anyone else though it proves to be rather hard. To think he assumed he'd be able to get a coherent reply out of Ray anyways.

Ryan has an odd look for them when he wanders out from the bedroom. Jack understands, of course, Ray's practically sitting in his lap, but no one makes any mention of it. If it keeps Ray grounded than what did it matter?

"How's it going?" Ryan questions tiredly. He could use a nap, too. After they get some food in them, they'll switch off so Geoff and Michael can watch Ray the rest of the night. Hopefully Ray will sleep most of it off.

"He's not freaking out yet," Jack assures, rubbing Ray's shoulder a bit. Ray peers up at Ryan curiously but it's short and uninterested. Gavin slips out of the bedroom shortly after, ruffling his hair in his hands as he goes. They're both still a bit damp from their shower but unlike Ryan, Gavin looks refreshed. Ryan's changed the bandages on his arm, though, and from the looks of it, Gavin helped. Jack will fix it later.

"Ryan," Ray muses with an air of curiosity. "What's a group of spiders called?"

"A group of spiders?" Ryan repeats. "Uh, terrifying is what's that called." Ray thinks about it visibly for a moment before nodding and seemingly moving on. Gavin hops onto the couch alongside them and gladly watches Ray work for a few seconds.

"What the bloody hell are you making, Ray?" he inquires in amused confusion. Ryan pauses on his way to the kitchen to have a gander as well, furrowing his brows in much the same feeling.

"Buildin' a house," Ray informs again.

"How the hell did you build a house like this?" Gavin insists incredulously.

"Well, it starts with dropping acid," Ryan murmurs. He pats Jack's shoulder gently as he passes by to urge him into the kitchen as well. Jack nudges Ray away from him in order to stand and Ray moves just enough before immediately stealing the warm spot Jack leaves behind. The open faced kitchen allows them to watch the living room from a distance.

"You don't look so hot," Jack mentions idly. Ryan rubs his face a little and sighs heavily. He shakes his head. No, he's not feeling too hot, either. "Coming down with something?"

"God I hope not," Ryan answers but it doesn't sound very worried. Jack rubs his back fondly to try and sooth him. It works minimally.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Jack asks with concern. Now certainly isn't the time for him to fall under the weather. Ryan doesn't reply initially, instead absently staring into the living room where Gavin is already plugging in another controller to join Ray. It's clear Ryan's a lot more than physically tired. He swallows uncertainly and looks at Jack again with such shame.

"I still love him, Jack," he says quietly. Yeah, Jack knows. Hell, they probably all already knew- besides Ryan, apparently. To some extent, Jack still isn't entirely used to it. It had taken him a long time to come to terms with having to share Geoff with anyone else and then again with many 'anyone else's. The fact that he had come to love them too was purely coincidental and so unnaturally unlikely.

Even so, Jack thinks he can share Ryan with Ray. Of course, that's not really the issue. Jack isn't the issue at all. Surprisingly enough, neither is Geoff. Or Michael or Gavin. If Ryan wants to honestly try and be with Ray again, they won't stop him. Geoff would understand and he would get over it. Even if he would be a massive baby about it.

There's no way Ray would ever take Ryan back.

"Yeah," Jack murmurs because he isn't sure what else to say. This isn't some crush Ryan's just going to get over if Ray rejects him. Or worse. It's a really bad situation when there really is an 'or worse' option. After what Ryan had done to Ray, if he admits he wants Ray back, Ray could snap. Ray's probably even beginning to get over him now.

"I'm a piece of shit," Ryan sighs. Jack nods.

"Little bit," he agrees. Ryan frowns at him a little.

"I still love you," he promises.

"I know, Ryan," Jack assures him. "Your ice heart is at least the size of a mini cooper. What do you think powers our AC in the summer?" This does earn a small chuckle from Ryan.

"Should I tell Geoff?" Ryan questions. Probably not, Jack thinks. Unless Ryan is actually going to do something about it, it would only cause a racket. It went without saying that if he isn't telling Geoff, he isn't telling the lads. They couldn't keep their mouths shut.

"Eventually," Jack says. It is likely Geoff already knows but when Ryan actually says it, it's an entirely different game. Still, Jack can't condone hiding this from the others. Now just isn't the time or place.

"I guess Geoff is just starting to warm up to him," Ryan agrees. "No point is ruining that now."

"Geoff's not gonna be mad at Ray," Jack assures him bluntly. Ray hadn't made Ryan do anything. Well, that they know of. Ryan grimaces a touch. It definitely won't be a fun conversation and Jack can't say he's looking forward to it. Who knows, though? Maybe Geoff will surprise them.

"You know Geoff doesn't dislike Ray as much as he leads on, right?" Jack informs. Ryan smirks.

"Oh, I know," he answers with a slight nod. "Geoff the overprotective sugar daddy."

"More like Geoff the rabid fucking papa wolf," Jack corrects. They both laugh a little. Together, they scrap together something edible with what's already stocked in the kitchen. There isn't much, but none of them were exactly picky eaters, either. As long as there is enough to go around, they're good. At some point, Jack notices Gavin is alone in the living room.

Oh great.

"Gavin," Jack calls urgently. "Where's Ray?"

"He went to wash his face," Gavin says and he doesn't even look away from the fucking television.

"Gavin," Ryan scolds sharply. "He thinks you're twelve spiders in a human suit. Why the _hell_ would you let him out of your sight?"

"He's fine," Gavin argues. "It's not like he went for a bloody hike. He's just in the loo." One job. Gavin had one job. Geoff's shout causes Gavin to drop his controller. Ryan's already moving for the bedroom when Gavin jerks to his feet. Jack's right behind him.

"He _was_ just in the loo," Gavin yelps. Fortunately, Geoff's girlish shriek seems to have been more of surprise than harm. He's lying on his back, holding his face when they arrive. Michael's still fast asleep to his right and to his left, Ray has burrowed up against side. That is definitely startling to wake up to.

"Ray," Ryan says in a hushed tone.

"Fucking dicks, dude," Geoff sighs loudly.

"What if Gavin's right?" Ray whispers in horror. "What if feet don't know they're feet?" Jack isn't sure when he had decided it would be acceptable to leave Gavin with Ray but he regrets it now. They had just been in the kitchen!

"If you're going to stay in here, you need to shut the fuck up and go to sleep," Geoff tells him irritably. Ryan briskly makes for the bed, dragging Ray from under the blankets and hoisting him up from under the arms. Ray goes dead limp.

"Sorry, Geoff," Ryan mumbles. "Go back to sleep." Geoff doesn't need to be told twice. He glares lazily at Ray before rolling over into Michael and resuming his heavy napping almost instantly.

"Ryan," Ray says quietly. "Ryan. What if my feet think they're hands?"

"Okay, you need to be quiet for a fucking minute," Ryan assures him as they quickly depart the room. Jack closes the door behind them softly. That could have been really bad.

"The king is upset with me. He is definitely working with the alien. Feet- still feet," Ray murmurs to himself, glancing down to his toes and wiggling them. Ryan sets him back on the couch where Ray seems to regain all his bones back.

"He's really far down that rabbit hole, innit he?" Gavin asks idly. Ray narrows his eyes sharply at Gavin and then Ryan before warily glancing side to side. Slowly, he pulls the neck of his hoodie up to cover his mouth and quietly watches them.

"We need to sober him up or something," Ryan says. That isn't exactly the easiest thing to do when acid is involved. That's why Ridley had given him so much of it. She wanted him incapacitated but unharmed for a very long time; long enough for her to get her reward.

"I'm pretty sure that's why he keeps washing his face," Jack insists. Ray is entirely aware he's not okay right now and does passively try to do something about it. With his addled mind though, he doesn't get very far.

"Caleb would have given him something if there was anything, right?" Gavin points out. Ryan nods shortly as he thinks.

"We could knock him out," Jack suggests.

"I said sober him up, not kill him," Ryan replies blandly.

"Not with drugs," Jack assures him in annoyance. "There's more than one way to knock a person out."

"So you just want to hit him in the head instead?" Ryan corrects. "Great idea." Well Ryan's sarcasm definitely isn't going to sober him up.

"Or put him in a chokehold?" Gavin adds in helpfully.

"Right," Ryan says coldly. "Because what we want to do right now is try and put the tiny killer who's currently tripping balls into a threatening chokehold." Jack can see how that could potentially backfire.

"Well what do you want to do?" Jack huffs. To this, Ryan can only sigh in defeat and slacken his shoulders.

"Nothing, I guess," he answers. "Not a lot we can do."

"They have no idea," Ray mutters not as quietly as he thinks he does. "Long live the king. Long live Roosterteeth."

"See, now that was fucking creepy," Gavin assures them and shifts his shoulders in an unnerved way. That is kind of troubling, admittedly. Jack can't imagine what Ray actually thinks is going on. He wonders if Ray's mind always works like this because Ray is obviously unaware he's thinking out loud. Ryan clearly doesn't think much of it, though.

"Are you hungry, Ray?" he asks and Ray looks up at him oddly.

"Nah," is the short answer.

"You should really eat something," Jack persuades.

"Nah," Ray repeats.

"You just had to kiss Ridley, didn’t you?” Ryan sighs.

“Nah.”

\- x -

Michael feels like it should be an achievement of some sort to catch Ray in the act of sneaking. Not that he’s really ‘caught’ him per say. Ray just doesn’t seem to realise that Michael has been watching him for the past ten minutes. Fairly, Ray has also been conversing with kitchen appliances most of the afternoon. The severity of his hallucinations drift a bit, as he was nearly fully coherent not even an hour ago, but Michael’s not sure if that’s because he’s fighting his high or if he’s just that good to acting. Considering he’s pretty sure Ray’s biggest threat is a small breeze, Michael’s going to guess that the later is more likely.

It’s enthralling to watch Ray stealthily move across the living room. Every move is incredibly deliberate but not necessarily slow. Regardless of how high he is right now, Ray is completely capable of slinking behind the back of the couch without Geoff or Jack noticing him even remotely. Michael wants to compare him to something cute like a cat or, hell, even a snake, but he finds himself unable to.

After all, Michael can’t say he’s afraid of cats or snakes like he’s afraid of Ray. Now, Michael is actually pretty fond of Ray. He can absolutely see how Ryan had come to love him when he hadn’t loved anything else. That doesn’t, however, make Ray’s ability to completely elude line of sight any less intimidating. If he looks away even slightly, it feels like Ray disappears from his vision all together. Michael knows this isn’t true, but it’s creepy as hell.

Ray stops rather abruptly, turning on Michael all at once and Michael feels his skin jump. For a moment, he thinks Ray is going to be either upset or unhappy. Instead, he quietly places a finger to his lips to gesture Michael to remain silent. This ought to be good. Slowly, Ray peers over the back of the couch, right near where Geoff is lazily laying soft kisses on Jack’s throat. They don’t notice him initially.

Then Ray opens his mouth.

“The alien on Geoff’s face appears to be attempting to overthrow the very muscular men, women, and non binaries in Jack’s beard. The mustache does not stand a chance,” Ray says quietly. Jack jumps visibly causing him to bash his shoulder rather hard into Geoff’s chin. Geoff curses as he rubs the underside of his jaw to sooth the minor pain. Jack sighs a bit but seeing Ray lookup at him with wide, confused eyes makes him smile. This is a trap that Michael is too familiar with.

Ray used it earlier on Ryan when he got caught trying to leave the safehouse with the toaster, looking at him so pitifully that Ryan had no choice but to forgive him. Of course, that meant Ray immediately tried to do it again. Ray is a manipulative little asshole when he wants to be. Considering the stories he's heard, Michael guesses that's about right.

“I thought you were watching him?” Geoff insists, glancing back at Michael halfly.

“I am,” Michael scoffs back. “He’s fine.” Ray isn’t exactly doing anything dangerous or particularly irritating. Michael’s dealt with a lot of high people in his lifetime and Ray is by far the least aggravating. He keeps wanting to wash his face every couple minutes and continues to hold conversations with inanimate objects but that’s about all. It’s not even like he’s yelling or generally being loud. He is literally the most well behaved person Michael has ever seen trip this much acid.

“Gavin and I are going to bed," Jack announces as he hoists himself up from the couch. He gives Geoff another parting kiss that Ray is far too interested in. On the bright side, Michael's pretty sure Ray has never and will never again be this interested in their love life. His insincere curiosity about how they have sex aside.

"Take Ryan with you," Geoff insists. Jack pulls a disapproving face.

"If you can get Ryan to go to bed right now, feel free," he grumbles as he heads for the bedroom to join Gavin. Geoff rolls his eyes unnecessarily animatedly. He looks into the kitchen where Ryan is engrossed in his laptop and quietly munching away at a granola bar. It's obvious he's tired if the fact that he hasn't checked on Ray in literally minutes is anything to go by.

Michael understands that Ryan wants to do anything to make up for what he's done but Ray really doesn't need that much attention. He feels like maybe Ryan is blaming himself for letting Ray get drugged despite him having literally no control over it.

"Ryan," Geoff calls. "Go to bed." Ryan turns his eyes up only enough to give Geoff a chilled look before going back to work. He doesn't dignify the command with a verbal response. Ray leans on the back of the couch to Geoff's side, sitting rather close for comfort.

"The king doesn't like to sleep," Ray whispers and for once, he actually manages to keep his voice low. Michael barely hears him from where he sits. Ryan certainly doesn't hear him. "The king is afraid one day he won't wake up. He is right."

Geoff doesn't say anything and when Ryan realises the look Geoff's given him has changed, he narrows his eyes suspiciously. Ray simply grins though which, unsurprisingly, doesn't make Ryan feel any better.

"Even kings die. Long live the king," Ray says lowly and he lays his head down on his forearm. Geoff turns to him a little, very clearly unnerved by this sudden bubble of dread. Even then, Ray only smiles. If anything, that makes it so much worse. Michael feels his skin crawl again.

He doubts it's a threat, though. Rather, it's just an eerie comment that reminds them that Republica agents don't have a fear of mortality. Or a sense of it, Michael is sure.

"You are a horrifying little Mexican," Geoff assures him bluntly.

"I'm Puerto Rican," Ray pouts.

"Just go to bed, Ryan," Geoff says again, now ignoring Ray fully. Ray climbs over the back of the couch with far less elegance than he sneaks with. He flumps down beside Geoff and doesn't hesitate to stretch himself across his lap. Geoff is largely unbothered by this.

"For real, man," Michael interjects. "You need whatever sleep you can get."

"We got this," Geoff promises. They can handle Ray for the rest of the night. Hopefully come morning most of it will be out of his system and they'll get normal horrifying Ray back. Ryan glances between them a bit, but his expression softens when he realises they're only watching out for him.

"Fine," he agrees reluctantly. He closes up his computer after a couple more scans before tucking it under his arm. As he heads through the living room, Geoff gestures him over. Ryan pauses only momentarily, allowing Geoff to give him a brief kiss before continuing on to the bedroom.

Michael waits until the door is closed before coming to join Geoff on the couch. Ray peers up at him curiously. There is no doubt that Ray could probably get into a lot more trouble than he has so if being stretched across Geoff's lap is the worst of it, Michael's fine with that.

"So that was fucking weird," Michael states plainly.

"Yeah it was," Geoff agrees as he looks down on the small body in his lap.

"You think he's telling the truth?" Michael inquires. They knew of Ryan's long history with insomnia but they had never consider there to be a particular reason behind it. Like Jack's struggles with seasonal depression, it was just something they learned to recognise and manage.

"I don't know," Geoff answers. If anyone would know something like that, it would be Ray.

"I have a great knowledge of many things," Ray assures them, letting them know he's actively listening to their conversation. "Like all the secrets to Super Mario Sunshine on the GameCube and why Geoff drinks so much."

"What you have is a big mouth," Geoff grumbles.

"All the better to suck dick with," Ray replies. Geoff shoves him out of his lap and Ray hits the floor rather hard. He shakes it off quick, though, sitting up at once and stretching himself out. His back cracks audibly with every move. "Geoff's mustache alien is ornery. Caution required."

"Just fucking go back to your achievements," Geoff instructs. Ray doesn't need any more convincing than that and he gladly goes back to sitting maybe a little too close to the television with his Xbox. Michael moves closer to Geoff with his lap now freed up.

He picks up about where Jack left off, kissing Geoff and his alien face warmer gladly. Ray doesn't show any interest in them for now. It turns out to be pretty easy to completely forget Ray is even there between warm lips and affection nips. Geoff tastes- sober actually. Which isn't unwelcome but odd all the same. Michael doesn't mention it.

Obviously this can only go on for so long. The second Michael runs a hand up the inside of Geoff's thigh, Ray is back again. This time he's sat on the floor right between their legs in the most irritating place he can manage. Michael takes back everything he's said about Ray being well behaved.

"You're just being a fucking cock block now," Geoff scoffs in annoyment.

"Geoff's dick, confirmed cube shaped," Ray says. This urges a muted glare from Geoff that reflects off Ray without any effect. Michael isn't that upset about it. It isn't like he was about to fucking blow Geoff with Ray in the room anyways. He's way more upset when Geoff gets to his feet and very obviously prepares to go somewhere.

"I gotta get some shit done," Geoff explains idly.

"Are you fucking serious?" Michael huffs back. It is dark outside and, right, _people_ want to kill them.

"Look," Geoff says in a passive tone. "Lindsay is going with me. I should be back in two or three hours." What he's going to do, however, is mysteriously skimmed over. Michael sneers a bit.

"Should be as in we need to come find your dead body after two hours or should be as in you'll be back whenever you feel like it?" he questions. Geoff gives him an unamused look.

"Knock it off, asshole. I'm just making sure some of our city 'occupants' know who's in charge here," he promises. That sounds like a lie if Michael's ever heard one.

"Right. By yourself," Michael repeats sourly.

"Ooo, you guys are fighting," Ray hums.

"Yes by myself," Geoff snips back sharply. "Believe it or not, six of us don't need to walk into a gang of easily bought off morons."

"Whatever," Michael growls, signifying the end of his involvement in this conversation. Geoff scoffs to himself but makes no further attempt to argue his point. When he leaves, Michael huffs loudly. Ray looks at him curiously.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"I'm fine," Michael assures him a little sharply. "Geoff's a big boy."

"Yeah," Ray agrees. "I could tell by the dick bulge in his pants." This earns an amused snort of laughter from Michael. He isn't wrong.

"Not as big as Jack."

\- x -

Ryan thinks he sleeps a little better. He gets about two hours of restful sleep before he's awake again. Even without the usual nightmares, Ryan is simply formatted to not sleep uninterrupted. He thinks admitting to both himself and Jack that he still has feelings for Ray has relieved some of his stress.

It has also created a lot more stress, but it is a different kind of stress. Ryan doesn't care for either of them but one of them give him nightmares so it's pretty easy to know which one he prefers. He plans on going back to sleep, he knows he needs it, but anxiousness makes him uneasy.

Gavin is pinned up between he and Jack's chests, snoring away peacefully. The room is a little warm and their combined body heat makes it a tad uncomfortable. Ryan peels Jack's hand off his hip and when he moves away, Jack hugs Gavin against him snugly. Gavin squirms a bit but if he awakens, it's not for very long.

Ryan yawns tiredly as he shuffles out of the room. He knows Michael and Geoff are more than capable of watching over Ray but Ryan worries about a lot more than that. What they're not capable of is fighting him off if he panics or gets paranoid. If that had happened though, Ryan's sure he would have heard.

There's no one on the couch when Ryan wanders out of the bedroom. It only takes him a moment to scan the empty room and locate Michael and Ray on the floor in the corner. It's so dark that Ryan isn't entirely sure what to make of it at first.

Ray's curled up in Michael's lap with his head tucked against his chest, hiding his face from sight. Michael rubs his back softly and slowly but persistently. It takes Ryan significantly long to realise Ray is shaking and that the tiny gasps of air are coming from him.

"Ray," Ryan murmurs as he steps toward them. Ray isn't in any position to notice him. Michael however, holds a hand out to prevent him from coming any closer.

"It's okay," Michael promises quietly, careful not to jar Ray too much. Ryan understandably doesn't believe that. He keeps his distance though for everyone's sake.

"What happened?" Ryan inquires lowly. Michael glances down at Ray a little before offering a small shrug.

"He just started freaking out. I think the LSD trigger a panic attack or something," Michael explains calmly. This is _exactly_ what Ryan was afraid of. He makes a move towards them again and again, Michael stops him. "Nu uh. He needs space, Ryan."

"Michael," Ryan says a little more desperately than intended.

"I got this, Ryan," Michael assures him softly. "He's fine. We're fine. Ray just needs to calm down." He's probably right. Ray hadn't exactly wanted his help last time, after all. Of course, Ryan had also been the one to cause it last time.

"Where's Geoff?" Ryan asks.

"He went to do some stuff with Lindsay. It's okay. Go back to bed," Michael tells him again. Ryan is pretty sure he won't be able to do that. Ray makes a struggled sob and Ryan just feels so insanely bad for him. This had to be awful for someone like Ray. Unfortunately, Ryan knows there's really nothing he can do to help.

Michael really does have it under control.

It feels so weird to just leave when Ray so obviously needs help. It feels even weirder to leave Ray in the care of someone who isn't an RT doctor. This is Michael, though, and Ryan trusts him. He trusts him as much as he trusts Jack to patch Ray up when he inevitably needs it.

So Ryan nods an easy agreement as he swallows down a mouthful of nerves. If Michael needs anything, Ryan's sure he'll know.

"Goodnight, Michael," he murmurs calmly, watching for a moment as Michael rubs the back of Ray's neck. It soothes some of the pitiful noises that come from him.

"Night, Ryan," Michael replies. Ryan only hesitates a second longer before heading back into the bedroom. He closes the door behind him silently and returns to the warm bed. Gavin inhales deeply when Ryan gets into bed again and rocks the mattress ever so slightly as he shifts against Gavin's backside.

Ryan eases himself a little with little thoughts of reassurance. Michael is capable of being a lot more delicate than he leads on and Ray has proven that he can handle these things. There's no point in worrying about something he doesn't need to do, Ryan decides. Besides, Ray absolutely wouldn't let Michael touch him so intimately during an episode if he didn't trust him; high or not.

Though it doesn't come easy, Ryan gets back to sleep eventually. Without the nightmares, Ryan finds it a lot easier to slip in and out of a comfortable sleep. When he wakes up an hour later, he doesn't get out of bed, just rolls over and goes back under. At some point, Geoff comes in to grab some extra pillows and blankets and Ryan watches him between consciousness but doesn't think twice.

It's only when Gavin rolls into his back and snuggles his face between Ryan's shoulder blades that Ryan finally begins to stir from his sleep for good. He reaches for the clock and faces it towards him to read the time. Nearly six. This is probably the most sleep he's gotten at once in a while.

Well, he did sleep pretty well in the motel. Idly, Ryan rubs his throat. Against his back, Gavin murmurs a slight complaint to Jack getting out of bed. He shuffles around a bit before finally heading into the bathroom. A few moments later, the shower runs.

Ryan waits a couple minutes before dragging himself out of bed, nearly taking Gavin with him. He rolls the lad back into the sheets to placate him for a bit longer. As for Ryan, he heads for the living room. He tries to keep any unsavoury thoughts from his head for now, instead saving them until after he checks on Michael and Ray.

They're still pinned in the corner but now they're both fast asleep. Ray's sort of awkwardly stretched out with his face smooshed into Michael's chest and looking anything but peaceful. His face is scrunched up and his hair a mess and maybe it's been a few days too long since he's trimmed his face but- Ryan sighs.

Michael isn't in a much better state. His back is craned up against the wall at an odd angle and he sneers in his sleep angrily. There's still a hand draped over Ray's back limply but it doesn't look like a comfortable position to be in. The blanket that Geoff had probably tried to toss over them is crumpled up between them and the wall where it does little to soften their sleeping place.

Geoff is asleep on the couch, carelessly slouched back with his arms spread out across the back to either side. He's clearly slept much better. The television is still on and when Ryan makes a step to turn it off, the floor creaks. It's no louder than it usually is but in the quiet morning, it sounds much worse.

All the same, it's enough to wake Ray up. At least, Ryan thinks that's what wakes him up. Ray pushes himself up suddenly and jerks Michael awake unintentionally. He gets to his feet before he's really ready and has to grab onto the wall to hold himself up. Ryan has to prevent himself from going to help.

Ray stumbles forward a few steps as he holds his face with the hand not supporting his weight. He's disoriented but his aggressive need to get away has little to do with discovering he had been so close to Michael.

"Imma hurl," he informs no one in particular.

"Ray wait," Ryan says but he clearly doesn't speak loud enough to get Ray's undivided attention. Ray cares little about the clear signs that tell him the bathroom is occupied, barging in without hesitation. Ryan goes ahead and let's this play out.

Jack yelps loudly.

"No one cares about your dick Jack!" Ray shouts.

"Jesus Christ! Can't you knock!" Jack yells back.

"Knock knock! Guess who-" if Ray planned on finishing that string of words, he doesn't, instead punctuating it with the unfortunate sounds of throwing up.

"Oh gross!"

"Nothing like watching someone else come down in the morning," Geoff comments from the couch after being awaken by the commotion. Hopefully he is right and Ray's system is mostly clean of the drug now. Ray's liver is probably a hundred times better than anyone else's here, so Ryan's not too concerned.

Michael gets to his feet slower than Ray had and shakes his back to the best of his ability. It doesn't have quite the effect he wants it to, though. Irritably, he stalks toward Ryan and turns his back towards him pointedly. Michael gestures to his back vaguely and grumbles something Ryan can't make out. He gets the picture.

Ryan wraps his arms under Michael's and with a small yank, lifts him up. Michael snarls out a short sound of pain as his back cracks but it melts into a relieved noise. He leans back a little when Ryan puts him down and mumbles a thanks.

"I know I left you in a needy position, but I didn't think you'd turn to Ray of all people," Geoff murmurs as Michael walks past the couch.

"Go fuck yourself," Michael answers without skipping a beat. It reminds Ryan of what Michael had said last night.

"Where did you go Geoff?" Ryan questions tiredly. Geoff certainly hadn't mentioned that he would be leaving when they went to bed. Looking somewhat inconvenienced, Geoff rolls his head towards Ryan.

"Don't give me that pissy shit, too," he says blandly.

"Go fuck yourself, Geoff," Michael repeats, louder this time.

"I might have to," Geoff answers, matching Michael's volume. He gets a middle finger for his efforts.

"You shouldn't have left by yourself," Ryan tells him irritably. Geoff apparently knew what was good for everyone but himself. So exactly like usual.

"I went with Lindsay," Geoff assures him with a nonchalant shrug. "Look, I still have a city to run." He still doesn't get it. Between Ray and Republica, they would burn this city to the ground. They certainly have a good head start on that already.

"I'm hungreh," Ray announces as he exits the bathroom looking a bit more refreshed. He's washed his face again at least. Ryan lets any argument he could have with Geoff die down for now. It was over and done with, anyways.

"No shit, you wouldn't eat anything yesterday," Michael assures him.

"I wasn't hungry yesterday," Ray points out, joining Michael in the kitchen. They scavenge out some food from the fridge, locating a bag of fast food that Geoff had likely come home with. The two of them are more than happy to scarf down cold cheeseburgers and red bull.

Ryan goes ahead and finds something slightly more edible for the rest of them. He's a little afraid of putting his hands near a hungry Michael anyways, especially for such a crappy reward.

"So are you sober now or what?" Michael asks between bites of food. Ray gulps down a few more feverish bites before even attempting at an answer. Ryan's not completely sure he ate at all yesterday. He hasn't exactly been scrounging Ray's eating habits.

"I guess," Ray replies with a jerky shrug. "Fucking walls aren't moving anymore, so that's a good sign."

"No more very tiny and very buff people in Jack's beard?" Geoff asks teasingly.

"Or twelve puppeteering spiders?" Ryan adds on.

"Or alien mustaches?" Michael grins broadly. Ray chews slowly for a moment, glancing between them with an unexpressioned face. He swallows what he has in his mouth and calmly washes it down with a large drink from his can.

"I never want to drop that much acid ever again," he says simply. Oh, he remembers what had happened and he absolutely remembers what he did. To that, there is no question. Not that anyone's going to hold it against him. Only tease him mercilessly.

"That much?" Michael clarifies. Ray shrugs again, a smoother, nonchalant gesture.

"Until I fucking crashed, it wasn't bad," he admits. On the down side, he had crashed hard. "Better than cola, not as good as kush. About the same as ecstasy. I mean, I never cried because of ecstasy so."

"For a light weight, it sounds like you have a pretty fucking extensive past with drugs," Geoff notes pointedly.

"Talk to Ryan and then tell me that," Ray answers plainly. Ryan blinks in surprise when the attention is suddenly diverted to him. Ray isn't wrong by any account but it isn't like Ryan had been an addict. Well not anything he hadn't shaken off.

"What?" Ryan shrugs. It also isn't like they all haven't dabbled in things maybe not exactly great for them. Ryan can recall at least two instances of them testing product together since his official join of the crew. "Drugs and Republica go together like fine wine and old white men."

"Or fine wine and Geoff," Ray says.

"Is Geoff not an old white man?" Michael asks.

"You raise a good point," Ryan murmurs and Ray nods an agreement.

"Eh," Geoff replies faintly, clearly not bothered by this description. Ray probably isn't one hundred percent sober but he's of clear mind which is more than enough. It'd flush out of his system after a couple days. Fortunately, LSD didn't have a lot of long term effects.

Jack, having finished his shower after the little interruption, pads out from the bedroom with a sleepy Gavin on his heels. He flops down beside Geoff and Gavin begins searching for coffee no one's made yet.

Ray manages to devour seven double cheeseburgers before calling it quits which Ryan thinks might be the most Ray's ever eaten in one sitting. With his belly full again, he can move onto more important things.

"Now that Ridley is out of the picture, Joel and Adam will move to a bigger target," Ray explains simply, restating information they already knew.

"How do we get them to stop?" Michael asks irritably.

"We put them in graves," Ryan says simply and shakes his head. "Or they'll put us in one."

"We're not going to get close to them again," Ray assures. "After your little chat, Joel's going to keep his distance. We couldn't track Ridley, there's no way we can track Joel."

"Aren't you supposed to be our super spy or something?" Geoff points out simply. "And his ex boyfriend? Why can't you find him?"

"Ex," Ray corrects fleetingly. "And Joel is pretty good at what he does."

"So why don't we track Adam?" Jack suggests. "You did say he's a newbie. Should be easier, right?"

"Because Adam is Joel's partner?" Ray reminds him like it should be obvious. "We'd have a better chance at Joel. And, I don't think we want to kill them."

"So you want them to come after us," Ryan says bluntly. Ray stares at him coldly.

"Dude, you know they're just going to send someone else. Unless you want the big man stepping up to plate, Joel is our best option," Ray assures him. Ryan doesn't think this situation would call Republica's director from the floor but it remains a valid point.

"What do you think we should do, then?" Gavin asks quietly. Ray scans over them carefully, though what he's searching for is unclear. He rolls his shoulders and stands a bit straighter to demonstrate he's confident in his reply.

"We'll have to leave Los Santos."

"No," Geoff dead answers. "Not happening."

"As long as we stay here, all of Geoff's connection are Joel's connections. I mean, everyone here knows you guys. We can't go anywhere without someone whispering what we're doing," Ray explains.

"He's right. Unfortunately," Ryan agrees with a submissive sigh. "We'd never be able to hide here."

"Where do you want us to go exactly?" Jack questions. That's another good point. Anywhere they stayed too long would start to register their activity. They'd have to move constantly.

"I don't know," Ray admits. "We'll have to think on it."

"And we'll have to do it quiet," Ryan reminds. "If Joel catches wind, it will have been pointless."

"Fucking fantastic."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another early posting because i am excited and got two chapters done this week. we're so close to the end you have no idea. next time REUNITE AT LAST. thanks for reading everyone and remember to check out [this post](http://themadkingsendshismilk.tumblr.com/post/99045635194/so-guys-posting-this-from-my-tablet-because-im-a) for more information about the coming one shot series.


	14. Queen of England

"I think we need to seriously consider Ray and I going back to Republica," Ryan says quietly. It's a suggestion that is ignored pretty much without question. Ryan isn't going anywhere without them.

"Nu uh," Geoff answers plainly. He doesn't even look away from the game he's playing with Jack, it's that dumb of an idea. Of course none of them are going to take it seriously. Gavin's pretty sure they've been fighting this long so Ryan doesn't have to go back.

"I mean, if you want to be a bitch, sure," Ray agrees. Even he, who might still be able to save his job at Republica, doesn't find it to be a good idea. Gavin sees no reason to even acknowledge the statement. His focus is fully on trying to perfect the flip Ray is teaching him. It's actually pretty difficult for looking so simple.

Ray keeps moving the cushion to where he lands so he doesn't crack his head on the wood floors. Gavin's not too concerned about that, though. He's hit his head lots of times before. Fortunately, he also has a really thick skull.

"I'm not saying it would be ideal," Ryan promises. "But you will have to cut your losses at some point, Geoff." To this, Geoff gives him a cold glare. He doesn't say anything, though, immediately going back to his game. Ryan isn't as worthless as he's making himself sound. Geoff would lose everything to keep them safe.

"So what? You just want us to dump you and go back to our lives before?" Jack asks but it's an insincere suggestion.

"If it comes down to it, yes," Ryan agrees as if it's perfectly reason.

"We're not gonna do that, you dope," Gavin assures him. When they had learned these people would do anything to drag Ryan kicking and screaming back to Republica, they had unanimously decided they were in this until the very end. Not a single one of them will take that back now.

"That's why we need to talk about this," Ryan stresses. "Uh, among other things."

"Well we're not talking about the first thing so what's the other things?" Geoff inquires. Ryan only sighs heavily, though, dropping the issue for now. He sits back in his chair, arms crossed unhappily, and looking more annoyed than he really is. Ryan can try to put on a good show of this but Gavin knows he's relieved. This isn't something he wants to do alone.

"Hey, worse comes to worse, we can always blow our brains out," Ray says nonchalantly. The comment causes Gavin to trip himself up when he tries to jump off the counter again. He hits the couch cushion hard with his side, knocking the ground with his hip and leg loudly. When he scrambles to sit up again, he's a little disoriented. Even then, he can hear Ryan's quiet 'I know'.

"Dude, you gotta tuck your legs more," Ray insists. Gavin is more than happy to distract the conversation.

"I'm tucking my legs!" he promises excessively. It is a really difficult flip to make! It'll be so cool if he can pull it off, though.

"Tuck them more," Ray instructs. That's easy for him to say.

"That's as far as my legs tuck!" Gavin replies as he climbs to his feet again. He brushes himself off and pats his bruised hip slightly. It isn't too bad, really, the bruising mainly caused by repeatedly hitting it rather than by brute trauma.

"Then you're not going to do this flip," Ray says bluntly.

"Aw, X-Ray," Gavin murmurs with a hurt frown. He absolutely can do this. It's just really _hard_. Ray shrugs.

"Come on, man," Ray urges. "Why are you so stiff? Don't you fucking stretch?"

"I'll show you a stretch," Geoff mumbles from the couch despite not being even remotely a part if this conversation.

"Well what about you?" Gavin points out defensively. "I never see you bloody stretching." Ray gives him an unamused look. As if to prove him wrong, Ray stands and in a single, fluid movement, bends backwards on himself. He's tiny, sure, but Gavin's pretty sure a person's arms are not supposed to be flush against the back of their legs ever nor does he think a spine is supposed to fold over like that.

"Holy shit," Michael says from the dining room. He laughs amusedly. "That's fucking weird, man." Ray pushes off the ground with his feet, pivoting himself into a handstand and immediately showing off by balancing on one hand.

"It takes like five minutes to stretch every day," Ray assures him plainly. "I mean, even Ryan can do it."

"Dude, you suck your own dick?" Geoff asks, looking at Ryan with sudden interest. Ryan is totally unamused.

"No," Ryan answers bluntly. "I'm _not_ that flexible anymore." It sounds weird to Gavin that someone Ryan's size would ever be that flexible. Ray drops back down to his feet, turning himself upright again and dusting his hands off on his jeans.

"Had to do something while I was single all those years," Ray comments. Gavin snorts a laugh. "Here. I'll help you stretch, Vav."

"He definitely doesn't need anymore of that," Geoff says idly. Jack laughs and Ray grins much too widely. It takes Gavin a moment to make the connection and when he does, the tips of his ears go red.

"Hey! Calm down," Gavin yips.

"Uh," Michael isn't laughing. "We have a chopper, boys." Already? It had only been a few days since they took out Ridley. A bright light shines in through the north facing windows, illuminating the lads all at once. Ray shields his eyes and squints into it. Geoff drops his controller with a loud sigh, obviously aware he and Jack aren't going to be finishing their game. Ryan's already moving to lock the house down.

"Attention," a voice booms from above. "Gavin Free, we know you're in there." Oh hell no! Gavin flees from out of the range of the light all at once, jumping over the back of the couch and burying himself in Jack's lap safely. If they can't see him, they don't know he's here. Jack's beard will hide him! Jack looks down at him with perplexity but he doesn't need a reason to hold Gavin protectively in his arms.

"We have you surrounded. Please don't do anything stupid. We require your unconditional surrender," the voice instructs. For one helicopter, they certainly didn't look surrounded. Gavin shakes his head feverishly. He didn't _want_ to go back to the service. Jack lifts him up off the ground a bit to hold him closer and Gavin gladly buries into him.

"That's fucking low," Ray murmurs. "Even for Joel. Telling SIS where Gavin is." He scoffs to himself. Already, everyone's moving into action. The shutters slam close around the window and doors with a loud clank, sealing off any sight in or out of the safe house. That'll only keep them out for so long, though; it's not an iron defense.

"What's the plan Geoff?" Jack asks as he drags Gavin to vest up. Gavin is incredibly jittery in his worry and barely manages to get his vest on with his fingers shaking so much. This is easily his worse nightmare. They can't take him away and they definitely can't take him away when Ryan needs them all so much.

"Don't let them take Gavin, obviously," Geoff replies, turning the kitchen island over and revealing the large stock of weapons hidden beneath. Gavin likes this plan.

"Great plan as always, Geoff," Jack says scathingly.

"Michael, get up top and take that chopper down," Geoff instructs and he motions to the heavy weaponry that hangs from the mantle.

"On it," Michael agrees, gladly taking up the rocket launcher in his hands and hiking it over his shoulder to walk with. He heads for the ladder hidden in the hall closet without hesitation.

"Everyone put your damn mics on this time," Ryan barks. He throws one across the room for Michael to hurriedly attach before he goes up. Two more are tossed for Jack and Gavin quickly fix on as well, definitely not wanting a repeat of what happened at the hotel. Ryan holds one out for Ray as Geoff grabs his.

"Here Ray. One for you, too," Ryan offers. Ray looks at it and then Ryan with an unimpressed expression.

"This thing's a piece of shit," he states plainly. Granted, the small receiver and mic could be better, it's not like it's that bad. The modifications Ryan has made to them make them look worse than they really are.

"I know it's not up to your fancy pants RT standards. Just fucking put it on," Ryan demands. Ray reluctantly does as he's told, connecting up to the rest of their mics with some discontent. Gavin's not sure how much it's going to help considering Ray doesn't typically say much.

"Chopper's gone," Michael informs. Gavin fumbles his pistol a little when he tries to load it and it frustrates him. He shouldn't be so nervous. This automatically causes Jack to take it from him, loading it quickly before handing it back. Gavin murmurs a small thanks.

"Good job, Michael," Geoff praises.

"No," Michael says. "It's gone. It's not here anymore."

"What do you mean it's gone? It's a fucking giant aerial vehicle," Jack points out harshly.

"How'd you lose a chopper!" Gavin yelps.

"I didn't lose shit," Michael snaps back.

"They're inside," Ray says bluntly. Ryan grabs at him in an acquainted way to adjust his mic for him and Ray sort of ragdolls to let him. Gavin presses himself flush against Jack's side.

"Fuck fuck fuck. I'm coming back down," Michael assures urgently.

"How'd they get in?" Jack questions without aim. He glances around warily, but the living room-kitchen combo is void of anyone besides him. Ray laughs shortly.

"It's not that difficult," he assures. This place was made to withstand brute force, not stealth. Jack ushers Gavin towards the hall and in the direction of the study.

"We need to hide you," he insists. That sounds like a great idea, but in reality maybe wandering down the dark hall with aggressive strangers in the house isn't the best thing to do.

Or not strangers.

Something hits Jack hard in the throat and he goes down like a ton of bricks. Gavin cowardly jumps away, instinctively trying to get out of the close quartets of the hallway. The best thing he can do for Jack is lead the attacker away. When he spots the face of his attacker, Gavin jerks to a stop.

"Dan?" Gavin murmurs in awe. He was positive he'd never see Dan again.

"Gavin," Dan replies sadly. "I thought you were dead, mate." He moves forward much too quickly and Gavin lashes out without thinking. In hindsight, Dan probably just wanted a hug but he is also MI6 and Gavin's not going to take any chances. He hits Dan harshly in the chest with the palm of his hand and immediately, Dan retorts.

This is something Gavin remembers; training with Dan back in England. The nostalgia is weird. Dan hits a lot harder than he used to and Gavin assumes he does as well. They're not quite evenly matched and Gavin very quickly is forced to take the defensive.

"B, we just want to talk to you," Dan yells at him. No way. They'd take him back home and he'd be in so much trouble. He doesn't want to go home.

"Get down, Gavin!" Ryan shouts. Gavin has to do a double take. He ducks instinctively but he pulls Dan down with him, avoiding Ryan's single shot all together. He also doesn't want Dan dead.

"Wait! Don't kill him!" Gavin cries sharply. While his guard is down, Dan grabs him from behind, hooking an arm around his throat and tilting them back in typical hostage hold.

"God dammit Gavin! _God dammit_!" Michael shouts. Gavin isn't saying he made the smart choice, but to be fair, he hadn't exactly thought this through either. He grabs at Dan's arm fiercely, digging his nails in to try and dislodge him. The hall is too narrow for him to throw an elbow and the angle they're leaned at prevents him from doing anything useful with his feet. It's not like Dan is going to hurt him, though, right?

"We have smoke," Ray informs way too calmly. "We need to go."

"We're not leaving Gavin," Geoff barks angrily. Ray, however, is already making for the garage. Gavin hears Geoff growl at him.

Out of the blue, Dan lets him go. Gavin struggles to stay on his feet when he does, abruptly looking back through the quickly forming smoke to see what's happened. Jack, already back on his feet, does not look happy as he brandishes a solid fist. Dan's definitely going to have a headache when he gets up. Smoke distorts their vision rapidly, making it nearly impossible to see.

"Gavin!" Michael calls for him urgently, likely having been unable to completely see what had happened.

"I'm fine, boy!" Gavin promises. "Let's go!"

"Love and Stuff! Out the back! Angry Fat! Take a bike! Hispanic! You're with me!" Geoff snaps out orders. "Cover your heads! Don't let them know which one's Gavin!"

In the smoke, Gavin doesn't see Ryan come up on him. He holds his arm to his face to try and rid himself of some of the smoke but it does little, if anything, to help. Ryan is in much better condition, his mask giving some form of protection. He leads Gavin towards the back of the house and with only sparing thoughts, grabs the back of Dan's gear to drag him along as well.

Ryan jerks the bed up off the floor and motions Gavin to hurry down the stairs below. He pulls Dan's unconscious body with him and swiftly snaps the bed back down to both hide them and stop the smoke from leaking in. Gavin hacks as quietly as he can in the clean air in an attempt to clean his lungs.

"We gotta go, Gavin," Ryan says and gives him a gentle push in the right direction. "Watch your back, okay? They're probably down here, too." Gavin nods his understanding. He carefully watches each nook and cranny they pass on the way to the boat, approaching every one with his gun out. Behind him, Ryan drags Dan unceremoniously in one hand and keeps the other on his gun.

When they reach the boat, Ryan grabs some rope from the near by toolbox and binds Dan up firmly. Gavin's fairly sure Dan won't be getting out of that any time soon. Ryan throws him onto the floor of the boat and gives Gavin a boost up the side. Quickly, Gavin starts up the engine and makes sure it still runs before turning back to Ryan.

"Why aren't you in the damn boat?" Gavin demands and his voice pitches to his own disapproval. Ryan pulls his mask off and hands it to Gavin.

"Put this on," he instructs. "Pull your hood up. From the sky, they won't know the difference." Gavin doesn't like where this is going. With a nervous nod, though, he pulls the mask on and yanks the hood of his sweater up.

"What are you going to do?" Gavin asks worriedly.

"This thing's fast, you'll lose them easy. Just go and don't stop until we tell you it's clear," Ryan explains shortly.

"But what are _you_ going to bloody do?" he repeats specifically.

"Geoff and Ray should be on the water. They'll take out the boats tailing you. Michael and Jack will be trying to hit that chopper. I'm going to deal with everyone else," Ryan assures him. He reaches up a bit, pulling Gavin down over the edge of the boat enough to kiss him faintly through the mask.

"No one's taking you from us, Gav," he promises. A small chill goes down Gavin's spine. He nods.

"Yeah. Okay. Be safe, Love," Gavin murmurs softly. He moves to the front of the boat quickly and Ryan steps away to get out of the danger zone. He salutes Gavin fondly.

"Be safe, Stuff."

\- x -

The few spies still searching the safehouse are more annoying to deal with than anything else. They're well trained but against Ryan, they don't stand a chance. He takes them out one by one, using their smoke against them and dragging them into it before they can even react.

Ryan knows well they're not just here for Gavin. They may be here mainly for Gavin but who could say no to multitasking? They were all high value targets right now and catching any of them would be acceptable. Still, the main concern is Gavin right now. If they got him, they wouldn't bother with anyone else.

Getting Gavin back from MI6 is not a task they want to be given.

Once the house is cleared, Ryan rustles up a new mask from one of his stashes and gladly pulls it on. Gavin should be in the clear by now, if he's done what Ryan told him to. He plucks a com from one of the dead bodies to listen in on.

They're calling in more people.

This is the opposite of good. Ryan pockets the receiver for now and grabs a few necessary pieces of equipment from the kitchen armoury. If Joel and Adam were involved, Ryan can take a guess and assume MI6 isn't calling in more of their own men. So much for Geoff 'making sure everyone knows who's city this is'.

"Jack, Michael," Ryan talks into his mic. "Looks like more guys are coming in. Don't get surrounded."

"Jack and I got separated!" Michael yells back. Ryan trades his calm gait for a run. "I'm hurt bad but I don't think they'll find me here."

"Where are you? I'll come pick you up," Ryan insists as he begins to the garage and takes the spare bike.

"No. I'm fine. You need to help Jack. He's making his way to the water," Michael says. Ryan isn't comfortable leaving Michael injured somewhere but he also knows Jack is probably leading these people away from Michael. He makes for the pier at once, moving easily through the crowd of panicked and frightened people with his motorcycle. Ray and Geoff have obviously been through here.

Ryan ditches his ride somewhat hazardly and doesn't even think twice about what happens to it from there. He locates the fastest boat and throws the owner into the ocean with an insincere apology.

"Jack, I'm coming to you. I need a location," Ryan instructs as he heads out into open waters. He takes a wild guess and says Jack is roughly in the direction all the helicopters are flying. None of them seem to pay Ryan any mind so far. None of them are looking for him.

"I'm north off the coast!" Jack answers and his mic sounds really bad. "They're closing in on me fast. You need to hurry, Ryan!"

"I'm going as fast as this thing goes. You need to hold them off," Ryan says calmly. He knows it's not that easy but Jack has likely buckled down in a decent place to defend.

"Just come get me Ryan!" Jack snaps.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Ryan promises. Sure enough, there's three choppers circling a rock in the water. The others must have branched off to search for Michael but hopefully he's right about not being easily found. Ryan cuts through the boats on the water without any hesitation, scraping the front of his borrowed boat hard against the rock.

"Jack!" he calls harshly, quickly climbing out of the driver's seat to gift some of the enemy boats lovely grenades. He gets his point across and several of the survivors back off. They won't stay back for long, though. There's a few excruciating minutes where Jack has to climb out from the hidden cove and swim to Ryan's boat.

With some help, Jack gets up the side and once he's out of the water, he coughs violently on the salt in his lungs. Ryan doesn't have the time to give him a hand right now. Instead, he drops his bag into Jack's lap and returns to the driver's seat to get them out of here. The helicopters follow them out and after a few seconds, so do the other boats.

There were so many of them now. At least they haven't opened fire yet which, thinking about it, seems kind of strange to Ryan. They really wanted them alive, didn't they?

"Michael," Jack rasps out once he can breathe properly again. "Are you okay?"

"I'm in the clear," Michael replies. "Those dick heads fucked off."

"You need to stay down, Michael," Ryan tells him briskly.

"Right. How are you doing, Gavin?" Michael inquires with clear concern.

"I'm top!" Gavin assures. "I don't see anyone! I'm ways out."

"That's great. Just make sure you've lost them and wait for us," Jack tells him. Ryan glances back at the helicopters tailing them. The boats they can handle, but it'll be hard to get the choppers out of the air with just some tossable explosives.

"Geoff, where are you?" Jack asks. There's no reply. "Geoff? Ray?"

"Geoff!" Ryan shouts irritably. Even then, there is no answer.

"Shit. What happened to Geoff?" Michael asks. There's no way any of them had seen what had happened. Ryan thought they were being unusually quiet. This just gets better.

"Their mics probably just cut out," Jack assures. "All this water, you know?" Ryan turns back again, growling out his annoyment. With all this heat on their tail, they can't go find Geoff and Ray. They'd just keep coming, too. Ryan pushes their boat as fast as it'll go. He just needs some distance now.

"Jack! Can you do something about those choppers?" Ryan insists sourly.

"With a pistol? No," Jack replies with a hint of irritation. Alright, so they didn't have any other choice. That's fine. He'll just have to make it quick.

"Well get them to fuck off a little at least!" Ryan instructs. "I need more distance!"

"I can try," Jack grumbles. Ryan watches to the best of his ability, trying to time everything in his head. One of the choppers break away but Ryan doubts it's anything Jack did. Geoff and Ray were still out there, then. Jack manages to make one of the pilots swerve and Ryan is sure that's the best they're gonna get.

"Uh," Jack says slowly. "Why are we stopping?"

"Viking funeral," Ryan answers as he swiftly grabs his bag and empties out whatever grenades and C4 there is left.

"What‽" Jack yells back.

"Viking funeral!" Ryan repeats louder, grabbing Jack by the arm to guide him to the edge of the boat.

"No!" Jack yelps as he quickly yanks himself out of Ryan's grip. Ryan jerks him toward the side of the boat a little harder. "No Viking funeral!"

"Ryan no!" Michael yells.

"No Viking funeral!" Gavin agrees loudly.

"Viking funeral!" Ryan shouts and he shoves Jack overboard with a hard push. He jumps in after him, the cold water shocking him to the bone instantaneously. They boat floats off a bit as they swim away. When the other boats approach on them again, Ryan blows it.

The water thankfully protects them from most of the blast and gives them a little wave to swim further out on. In the dark water, they should be well hidden. If not, well, Ryan may have just killed them both.

"Hold your breath," Ryan says suddenly, just moments before he has to pull Jack under to avoid the search lights. They're passed by without stall. The cloudy sky and lowering sun is playing in their favour for now. When they come back up, Jack gasps for air.

"You asshole," he huffs angrily. He'll get over it. Ryan is quick to grab onto a piece of boat floating towards them and hold it over them for slightly better cover. The chill of the water is the worse but after nearly twenty heart churning minutes, both the choppers and the boats fuck off.

Ryan and Jack wait well after they've gone to pop out of the water. They each find a decent piece of flotation to cling to and keep their tired heads above water. Jack holds himself up on a charred life saver and Ryan is kept buoyant by a broken chunk of hull.

"Never do that again," Jack says after they've swam in silence for several minutes. It's going to be a long way back to shore.

"No promises," Ryan replies.

"Jesus Christ, Ryan," Jack sighs loudly. "You're going to kill us."

"Hey, I didn't see you making any plans to get us out of there," Ryan points out. They were alive and they weren't being chased anymore. What more did Jack want?

"You also don't see me blowing us up or giving us pneumonia!" Jack shouts back.

"Yeah," Ryan agrees off handedly. "You gotta see the bright side, though."

"We're swimming in ice water and it's dark?" Jack says sarcastically.

"Oh, quit your whining," Ryan insists. Jack sighs in exasperation. They pull a little closer together, Jack moving off of his life preserver in order to cling to the junk Ryan is floating on. They'll stay warmer closer together and this way, one of them can rest while the other swims.

Jack perks up suddenly.

"Hey! My mic still works!" he announces. They come to a halt all at once and Jack quickly pulls the receiving end out to hold between them for Ryan to listen in as well. It's incredibly staticy and likely on its last leg but anything is better than nothing.

"Good news and bad news, Geoff!" That's Ray's voice. Their mics are back online and they're okay. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like they're going to be okay for very long.

"Is the good news that were killed everyone because the bad news is we're almost out of gas!" Geoff answers loudly.

"Well," Ray says. "There aren't anymore choppers."

"Oh thank god," Geoff sighs in relief.

"But," Ray goes on. "And I don't mean to alarm you or anything-"

"Fucking spit it out, dude! Holy dicks!" Geoff snaps shortly.

"There is a lot of C4 stuck to the underside of our boat," Ray informs. This is not what Ryan wants to hear at all. Everything about this had gone south so fast. "We're pretty much dead the second we stop."

"Geoff!" Michael's voice cuts through.

"Michael!" Geoff replies. "Our mics are back, Ray!"

"That last chopper was probably the one cutting our signal," Ray murmurs.

"Is everyone okay?" Geoff demands. "Where's Gavin?"

"I'm fine!" Gavin promises. "I'm heading back now!"

"Jack and Ryan went down so fucking far out! I'm grabbing a boat now!" Michael explains.

"We're here!" Jack tries his mic with high hopes. "We're swimming, but we're both okay!"

"Jesus fucking Christ! What the fuck, Ryan‽" Michael yells at him. Everyone's a fucking critic.

"I'll pick you guys up!" Gavin assures.

"Oh thank god," Jack breathes out in relief. "I thought we'd have to swim home."

"Uh, not to be the Debbie downer or anything," Ray murmurs calmly. "But the C4 hasn't gone anywhere and we're stopping."

"Fuck!" Geoff growls out. "Ray! We have to go!"

"Geoff wait!" Ryan shouts but he doesn't think the mic registers his voice or at least, not fast enough for Geoff to hear. It's the same solution Ryan had come too.

"Now would be a great time to mention I can't swim!" Ray yelps. Ray's mic cuts out suddenly and Geoff's is right behind it. Of course, in Ryan's solution, everyone could swim.

"Did he just say he can't swim‽" Michael asks loudly. Yeah. In hindsight, maybe Ryan should have urged Ray to go with Jack instead to keep him off the water. A bright light off in the distance catches Ryan's attention instantly. The explosion is enough to rock him and Jack even as far away from it as they are. That was so much C4.

"I'm coming to you, Same Voice!" Gavin promises. Did he not hear what just happened?

"No!" Ryan says immediately. "Find Ray and Geoff!"

"Fuck that!" Jack snaps at him. "Come get us, Gavin!"

"Are you going to fucking drown in the next fifteen minutes?" Ryan snarls at him. He doesn't even know if Geoff will notice or if he'll still be conscious or, fuck, if he is even sober enough to keep them both afloat. Geoff and Ray need help way faster than they do.

"Geoff's not going to let him drown, Ryan. Ray will be okay," Jack says firmly. They are under the impression that Ray is indestructible, and he kind of is, but he'll sink like a fucking stone. In the end, Ray is still only human.

"If Geoff is also drowning, I don't think he's going to have much of a choice," Ryan growls. Geoff is shockingly hardy, too, but there's a limit.

"Jack?" Gavin questions. "Ryan?"

"Their mics must have kicked the bucket," Michael murmurs. "You grab them. I'll try to find Geoff and Ray."

" _God dammit_!" Ryan curses angrily, throwing Jack's mic into the water and only becoming more annoyed when it floats back to the surface.

"Calm down, Ryan," Jack says shortly in a tone that is clearly not in the mood to be gentle right now.

"You calm down!" Ryan snaps back automatically. "Why the fuck wouldn't they find Geoff and Ray first‽"

"They'll be fine," Jack assures him again. It's too bad Ryan doesn't believe that.

"Have you ever seen a drunk swim, Jack?" Ryan asks sharply. "They sink real fast."

"Geoff's not your average drunk," Jack scoffs, his patience with Ryan's anger growing shorter by the second.

"Oh, you're _right_ , Jack," Ryan says in faux pleasantries. "He's a super alcoholic drunk who will probably die from his liver failing way before he actually drowns. So at least there's that!" Jack glares at him halfly but he says nothing else, effectively ending all words between them. He's worried, too, Ryan knows that.

Ryan's too angry to apologise right now. They go back to swimming in silence, avoiding looking at each other as much as possible. It turns out to be pretty easy. After a few minutes that Ryan counts in his head, the lights of Gavin's boat illuminate them in the dark. The clouds and dusk no longer work in their favour.

Gavin nearly runs them over before he sees them and Jack has to wave him down twice. It's all a massive waste of time. Ryan was being generous when he said fifteen minutes. He knows on average, it takes about seven minutes to die from drowning. He also knows the brain would be long past repair far before seven minutes.

He knows it's plausible they'll never find the bodies.

Ryan helps Jack up onto the boat before Jack and Gavin give him a hand up. His clothes are soaked through and being out of the water sets a new kind of cold all over him. He's shaking horribly but he pays it no attention. While he may feel like he's freezing, he's not and therefore it's not an immediate issue.

"Bloody hell, Ryan. You scared the living shit out of us," Gavin assures him. Ryan isn't interested in this right now.

"That way," he points Gavin in the direction the explosion had come from. "We need to hurry." He has a one track mind and while Jack is trying to warm himself up and examine Dan, Ryan is already searching the waters. Surely they wouldn't have floated this far away, but he'd rather be better safe than sorry.

"Oh right," Gavin says from behind the wheel. "Jack, this is Dan. Dan, my boyfriend Jack." He motions to the British agent bound and gagged in one of the seats. Dan waves from his waist smally. Jack awkwardly waves back.

"We don't have time for this," Ryan reminds him in agitation. They need to be watching the waters.

"The scary one is also my boyfriend," Gavin murmurs quieter. Dan arches a curious brow. "It's complicated. I'll explain later."

"Gavin," Ryan barks harshly.

"This is as fast as this bloody thing goes!" Gavin promises.

"Pay attention," Ryan commands and Gavin nods meekly. Jack quickly takes to looking over one edge while Ryan checks the other. Even with what little light they have, the water is still so dark.

Michael comes up on them when they near the wreckage of Geoff and Ray's boat. Whoever had still been chasing them are long gone by now. Gavin parks along side him and Michael comes out to talk with them.

"I haven't seen anything yet," Michael explains. He looks really bad. His shirt is torn horribly and there's road rash all along his right side and along his face where he hit the asphalt. It's clear that one of his arms is broken, but he doesn't let it bother him. He probably can't even feel it through the cold and adrenaline.

"I'm coming with you," Ryan decides at once. "You drive, I'll search." It is pretty pointless to have both him and Jack on one boat. He hops across the small gap between the boats to join Michael and locates the brightest light onboard.

"We should circle around here," Jack suggests. "They're probably floating on something." With that, Michael quickly returns to the wheel and they break apart from Gavin's boat.

Ryan still counts the seconds in his head. It's been too long. It's been far longer than seven minutes and fifteen is even going to pass. They couldn't have gone far but visibility below the surface is minimal at best. If they had gone down, there is no chance.

He hangs off the back of the boat and tries to move the debris around to assure they're not hidden underneath any of it. If they were still conscious, they should have seen the boats looking for them by now, right? If they weren't; bodies float.

"Ryan," Michael calls to him. "Gavin's saying Jack spotted something to the east. A piece of hull I guess."

"Yeah, yeah," Ryan says urgently. "Let's check it out." If by some miracle one of them was both conscious and capable of swimming, getting away from their last known location would be key. That's just basic anti-survival technique obviously. Because, _obviously_ , a person would want to assure the people trying to save them would have _no_ idea where they went. _Obviously_.

Ryan sees why Jack had called it out. The chunk has drifted a long way against the current to have been natural. Michael slows down when they come across it and it mysteriously seems to stop moving. Ryan grabs for it desperately and hears the quiet cough from underneath.

His heart swells up with relief.

They stay eerily quiet and Ryan realises whoever's under it has no sight and therefore no way of knowing that they were friends.

"Geoff?" Ryan calls faintly, struggling against the water to lift the shard of wreckage. The air stills.

"Ryan?" Geoff answers cautiously. The chunk becomes a whole lot easier to lift all of a sudden and Ryan is greeted at once with Geoff's tired and soaked face.

"Michael! Tell Jack and Gavin to get over here!" Ryan instructs. He pushes the hull piece away and when he does, he sees Ray clinging to Geoff's back limply but safely. He looks miserable but alive and mostly awake. Ryan laughs in relief.

"Come on, buddy," Geoff says gently, drawing Ray off his back and guiding him to the edge of the boat so Ryan can pull him up. Ryan drags him on deck and Ray immediately scrambles away from the edge like a wet cat.

"Geoff," Ryan breathes out as he reaches down for Geoff to grab his arm. "You fucking asshole." Geoff coughs up a laugh once he's on solid ground, Ryan having to hold him up in order to keep his footing. Ryan kisses him feverishly and they're both wet and cold and shivering but somehow unbelievably still alive.

"Geoff!" Jack yells from a distance. Gavin nearly crashes his boat into them before quickly turning and then nearly turning his own boat over. When he finally manages to come to a complete stop without flinging Jack or Dan out the back, Jack hurriedly hops over.

He grabs Geoff rather angrily and Ryan steps off. Jack pets Geoff's wet mustache a bit to get it out of the way before kissing him gently. Of course Ryan knows Jack was just as worried as he was. Jack just has more faith in their stupid luck than Ryan does. Or what disguises itself as luck.

Ray has leaned himself up against the little cabin of the captain's deck, trembling something awful and trying to warm himself up with his hands. Due to his lower body fat, he's much colder than the rest of them. He still looks really frightened and when Ryan approaches him, he jumps.

"Are you alright?" Ryan asks delicately. He'd give Ray his jacket but it's also wet and would only make him colder.

"God no," Ray answers. "Holy shit. Is swimming always this terrifying? I never want to go in the water again. A piece of seaweed touched my leg, Ryan, it was awful. You can't blaze seaweed." Ryan laughs a little and pushes a hand through Ray's hair to slick some of the water out of it.

"We're heading back now, don't worry," he promises. "We'll all get warmed up and patched up." Ryan doesn't want to jinx it, but if they all managed to survive this long, he's pretty sure they can get a leg up on pneumonia too. Ray shakes a bit more, huddled in on himself to preserve warmth, but manages a weak nod. When Ryan sighs contently, Ray peers up at him.

"Just fucking kiss him already," Geoff says obnoxiously. "Fucking Christ. You're gonna make me throw up over here." Jack gives Geoff a disapproving look and Geoff shrugs mildly. "What? That's what he's waiting for, isn't it? Our okay or whatever? God, I think Imma throw up anyway."

"Not on the boat," Jack tells him plainly.

"You're so sensitive to my problems, Jack," Geoff coos. "What would I ever do without you?" Jack grabs him irritably but kisses him all the same. That is, of course, until Geoff yanks away and hurls over the side of the boat. To be fair, he's probably drank a lot of sea water.

Ryan swallows nervously, turning to look at Ray again. He can't say that was entirely what he was waiting for. It is part of it, of course, and Ryan is happy for Geoff's quote-unquote approval but-

Ray grabs him without warning, wrapping heavy, wet arms around Ryan's neck and pulling himself up to catch Ryan's lips in his own. Ryan doesn't even know how to react at first. Ray's lips are chilled from the water but besides that, it's everything Ryan remembers. It's everything he didn't know he missed so much.

It's not like their previous encounter; chaste and mistaken. It's deliberate and close and Ryan feels it like a blow to the gut. He just missed Ray so much and he hadn't even realised. When Ray pulls back, Ryan is thoroughly dizzy.

"No one get mad," Ray says. "But I was waiting so fucking long for that."

"Oh yeah, we had _no_ idea," Michael promises with a teasing grin.

"Such shock. Much surprise," Gavin adds in jokingly. Ryan lets out a warm exhale. With this, so much of his stress has melted away.

"Alright assholes," Geoff grumbles from over the edge. "If you're done, I want to get off of this fucking water some time tonight."

\- x -

With not a lot of options and six very wet, very cold people, they have little choice but to return to their safe house. Jack turns the heater way up while Ryan and Ray quickly make sure they won't have anymore surprise visitors. Geoff strips off his wet clothes as soon as possible and dries himself with the warmest towel he can find before dressing in clean, dry clothes.

Michael and Gavin have already discovered an easier way to warm up, but they're clearly having a hard time deciding if they want to rut or get dry. Jack makes the choice for them when he points out that Michael's arm is still broken and his road rash needs to be dealt with. This is the worse Geoff's ever seen him get it and it's not going to be a pretty healing period. Right now, though, Michael doesn't even seem to notice. Gavin nearly gags when he realises he's touching open flesh.

Once dry and dressed, everyone gathers around the couch to discuss what they're going to do next and more importantly, what they're going to do with Dan. Geoff still isn't one hundred percent sure why Ryan had thought dragging him along would be wise, but he supposes having a hostage could play to their favour.

While Jack starts patching Michael up, Gavin turns his attention to Dan. The man's still wet but he'll warm up fine in the house. They weren't about to untie him right now, after all. Ryan kindles a small fire in the fireplace for added comfort.

"I'm really sorry about all of this, b, I swear," Gavin murmurs and he rips the piece of tape off Dan's mouth. Dan winces in pain, blinking tears out of his eyes, but shakes it off and stretches his jaw.

"Christ. This is all really unnecessary, innit?" Dan assures but he doesn't sound shockingly concerned. Geoff's not entirely sure what Gavin's relationship with Dan had been but they had obviously been close. He wouldn't be surprised if they'd been dating. "Bloody blew Joannas out'a the water, though, that cunt."

"Oh man, Joannas was out there?" Gavin says with an annoyed tilt of his head. "That guy hated me so much. Good riddance."

"This was _supposed_ to be a nonviolent retrieval," Dan explains simply. It was sort of nonviolent. No one had been shot at, after all. "I don't know what happened. We were just gonna take you home, b."

"Yeah, then we knocked you out and tied you up," Geoff reminds him and gives Ryan a pointed look. Dan adjusts himself slightly as if to test his binds before plopping himself back on his tailbone again.

"Well yeah," he agrees offhandedly like he hadn't entirely thought about that. "But Joannas ordered an aggress on you guys way before that. I mean, we're really not even supposed to interfere with Los Santos."

"But let me guess, Adam and Joel tipped you off that Gavin was here," Geoff comments. This is getting to be such a hassle.The two had even gone out of their way to assure the little gangs he controlled were the ones that would come after them. Not that Geoff is all that worked up over it. Most of those gangs he had wanted to be rid of anyways.

"Who?" Dan replies curiously.

"Weird lanky guy?" Michael informs. "Bigger guy with a beard and nose piercing? That's Joel and Adam." Dan doesn't look anymore clear by those descriptions. He shakes his head.

"Uh uh. We got an anonymous tip from the police station," Dan murmurs. That doesn't make any sense. Why did MI6 enlist the help of local gangs, then? Geoff glances at Ryan with a questioning look, awaiting some kind of implausible but totally true suggestion.

"I guess 'Gavin Ramsey' didn't fool them?" Ryan offers. That's unfortunate for them. Geoff will make sure Lindsay does something about that.

"What do we do with him now?" Jack inquires. That's a good question. A few boats had gotten away, but for the most part the MI6 agents are dead and think Dan is dead. They can't just let him go.

"So," Dan says slowly. "Which ones are your boyfriends again?" He should probably be a lot more concerned about his well being than he is.

"Uh," Gavin answers. "Well sort of all of them. Except Ray."

"I'm Ray," Ray alerts with a small hand raise. His attention, that had been focused on Michael, turns back to the task at hand at the mention of his name. Dan looks over them individually, counting them on his fingers as he goes. He nods.

"Huh. Okay. I- okay," he says and obviously doesn't have much more to add on the topic. "Now I know what you've been doing all this time."

"We should let him go," Ray interrupts tactlessly.

"He'll just tell MI6 where we are," Ryan disagrees.

"I won't," Dan interjects matter-of-factly. Geoff looks down at him questioningly.

"You won't?" Gavin repeats incredulously. Dan shrugs.

"I'm just glad you're still alive, b. I don't know what the bloody hell you've gotten yourself into but if it makes you happy, you know?" he promises. Gavin lights up like it's Christmas. He hugs Dan fondly despite Dan being unable to reciprocate at the moment.

"So that's it? We just let him go back to his guys?" Geoff asks blandly as Gavin works on untying Dan. This sounds like a mistake waiting to happen.

"They're going to ask questions," Jack insists.

"Tell 'em we're dead," Ray says simply. "They think we are anyways and we'll be keeping a low profile to avoid Joel so they won't find us easy."

"I guess he could tell them Joannas went rogue," Ryan adds in thoughtfully. "Play the lucky survivor."

"Would you do that for me, b?" Gavin asks hopefully. Dan rubs his arms a little as he considers it.

"I'm going to be in so much shite if they find out," he murmurs. "You guys will need to really keep your heads down but- yeah. Course I will." Geoff guesses Dan is perfectly fine with lying to his employers for the same reason Gavin was perfectly fine with abandoning them.

"Can you buy us a few days before you do?" Ray questions.

"A few, maybe," Dan says unsurely. "Until I get back home, at least. They're going to want to know what happened as soon as possible." If a few days is all they have to clean up after themselves and disappear, then that's all they need.

"You should leave the city in Lindsay's hands," Ray suggests to Geoff clearly. "She'll take care of it until you die at least so if we do need to come back, it'll be safe. Won't really matter once you're dead."

"This is it, then? We're finally going to play dead and run for it?" Michael scoffs angrily and he crosses his arms stubbornly. He regrets it immediately when he discovers the pain is now very noticeable. There's a quiet hiss between his teeth.

"Won't Joel just tell them we're not really dead, anyways?" Jack points out warily as he grabs Michael's arm firmly to hold him still.

"Nah," Ray assures. "Joel only tipped them off because he thought they would be a weak spot for Gavin like he thought Ridley was for Michael."

"Because that hasn't worked, if he finds us now, he's likely going to find the biggest, baddest locals to rush us," Ryan informs with an open hand gesture. "We'll want to stay in small towns and avoid any places with a lot of criminal activity."

"Great," Geoff says sarcastically. "I love staying in dingy old motels in backwater towns. At least we'll only have to do it for the rest of our shockingly short lives."

"Well, there is another way," Ray pipes up.

"Is there, though?" Ryan replies suspiciously. Geoff's going to be pissed if there turned out to be a way to have avoided this all.

"Suicide pact."

"You know, it's getting really hard to tell when you're joking," Geoff sighs.

"Come on, Geoff," Ray grins. "Lighten up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so there's probably going to be two more, three max, chapters. i'm so excited i hope you guys are excited too. we're almost there. thank you guys so much for your support on this, i definitely didn't except so much of it and i really hope you've enjoyed it as much as i have. stay tuned for when shit goes down next week.


	15. Hounds of Hell

Ray painstakingly takes his sniper rifle apart piece by piece on the floor of the living room. While the other crew members deal with the preparations they'll need to make before leaving Los Santos, Ray prepares to go home. They can't move so soon after making everyone believe they're dead but that's not really true.

There is no one after them. There had never been anyone after them. There is no bounty, Joel and Adam aren't trying to wear them out, and Republica doesn't want Ryan dead. Well, Ray isn't so sure about that last one. Republica had promised that they didn't have any intention of hurting Ryan and Ray hasn't known them to lie like that, but he also knows he would have never taken this job if he thought they were going to take Ryan's head off.

Ray thinks it will have been a colossal waste of time trying to keep these five idiots alive if they are just going to execute Ryan after all.

Though the danger had been largely a rouse, it was definitely a dangerous rouse. Ray certainly hadn't planned on getting branded in a shitty office building and he absolutely hadn't planned on getting dragged into the ocean by Geoff. Still, these were acceptable variations of the plan and he had accomplished his tasks.

All there is now is to clean up a few loose ends and pack the crew up for delivery. Ray is both ready to go home and disappointed that Ryan took this long to try and rekindle anything between them. He has such a short time to enjoy it now.

“Have you thought of somewhere for us to go?” Jack inquires idly and Ray glances up to look at him. There was never any question of where they would go rather only the intent of not telling Ryan. Suggesting that they hide out in the city where Republica’s in state base is located is not something that would be wise to do. There is no argument Ray could make that would make that sound like a good idea. However, no one else knew that.

“Not yet,” Ray replies with a small shrug. “At this point, it doesn’t really matter though. I mean, we’re going to have to move again anyways, so wherever we go will only be temporary.” Ray lies through his teeth the same way he always has. He's built his lifestyle on it. To some degree, he feels like a magician or an illusionist. Ryan should know how all his tricks are played and yet not once has Ryan accused him of performing them. In their relationship, there had always been the lingering concern that what Ray did he would eventually do to Ryan and Ryan had assured it; the cruelest form of self fulfilling prophecies.

Except he hadn’t. Not really. Ryan had never any choice in what he did and Ray knows that. It’s why he can’t really stay mad at Ryan because their relationship had always been volatile; it was supposed to be. They were supposed to fall apart, Ryan was supposed to run away, Geoff was supposed to save him and Ray is supposed to be the bad guy. That’s how they’ll see him. Ray guesses he doesn’t care, though. He’ll just be going back to his usual life after this, like after every job.

Ray doesn’t know what Republica wants with Ryan or the rest of them and knows its none of his business anyways. He also knows that every move of this had been planned long before Ray had ever joined Republica. Unfortunately, he had simply fit the necessary parameters for the person they needed. If anything, Ray loathes himself the most for acting exactly how they had predicted he would act.

“Why are you packing your sniper up, Ray?” Gavin asks. Ray stops what he’s doing for a second, looking up at Gavin curiously. He's smarter than he gives even himself credit for but Ray finds that his execution and comprehension is strongly lacking. So basically everything needed to make use of his intelligence he doesn't have.

“Huh?” Ray murmurs back. “Because we’re moving?”

“Well yeah,” Gavin agrees. “But you usually keep it on you, don’t you? Even when we’re moving around.” And perceptive apparently. Ray looks back down to his gun and the parts in his hands that he packs in the case especially for it. He knows it doesn’t need to be broken down so thoroughly and that if he does need it at a moments notice, the precious time required to reassemble it would fuck him, but he really doesn’t like returning to Republica with it in one piece. It’s a respect thing.

“Oh,” Ray says like he hadn’t even thought of that. He had, he simply hadn’t thought anyone would notice or care. It’s such a mundane thing to care about. “I guess I just-” he pauses, shrugging his shoulders a little. “Feel safe enough with you guys not to need it constantly anymore?”

“Well that’s a dumb fucking idea,” Michael mumbles. Of course it is. Ray has never felt safe in his life.

“I mean, Geoff totally could have left me to drown,” Ray points out. Or, you know, he also could have _not_ thrown him off the fucking boat. If there’s anything Ray has learned about Geoff, it’s that he’s a man of instinct. When cornered, he’ll pretty much immediately disregard all logic to self sustain. People are fucking frightening.

“I still can’t believe you can’t swim,” Geoff says bluntly.

“Before yesterday, there has literally only ever been one other time that I've been in the water during a job,” Ray assures him. “And that was because Ryan fucking pushed me off the ship. Never have I ever needed to know how to swim.”

“I didn’t know he couldn’t,” Ryan promises swiftly. “And I did make up for it by saving him quickly.”

“You’re the one who pushed me off the boat!” Ray reminds him pointedly. “I wouldn’t have needed saving if you hadn’t shoved me off!”

“Eh,” Ryan replies. “Technicalities.”

“You’re an asshole,” Ray assures him. Ryan shrugs and nods a little. He probably hadn’t felt bad about it at the time but now it clearly bothers him a little. They had almost given themselves away because of that. A small lad flailing around in the water wasn’t exactly conspicuous and flail Ray did. He had literally never been in the water before that. Even he hadn't known he couldn't swim.

“We learn something new every day,” Jack laughs. Ray finds it odd that they had to learn not to push him into the ocean. He is a heavily armed mercenary; maybe waterlogging all of his firearms isn’t the best idea anyways? Not to mention he does tend to keep quite a few drugs on him at any given time. He is only glad they’re kept water tight for the unlikely event he is nearly drowned by an idiot.

Ray seals up his sniper’s case gladly and sits up upright for quick pick up when the time comes. He expects to have a couple more days but considering he also doesn’t expect anything else to happen, there’s no point in putting it off until the last minute. Honestly, he knows better now than to think the crew isn’t capable of surprising him, but whatever they could do in the next three days wouldn’t be extraordinarily dangerous.

“If we travel in pairs, we should be alright,” Geoff begins idly. They think it’ll be safer for them to move under the cover of night and Ray let’s them. Explaining that darkness wouldn’t keep people away and that agents of Republica could work off way less sleep than they could would be tedious and aimless. Besides, he finds that letting them think they’re safe earns him quite a few brownie points.

“Jack and I are going to pick up some of our shit,” Geoff explains. “Michael and Gavin, you two are going to meet up with Steffie and Caleb and hopefully Lindsay to tell them what’s going on. I can’t reach Lindsay but SteffieSteffie says she’ll be there.”

That doesn’t sound good. Those three grace days suddenly got a lot shorter. Ray had known her first priority was the safety of the crew but he hadn’t assumed she would tread on his goals. Clearly he was mistaken. He doesn’t think the crew’s safety is currently being threatened, either, but it’s obvious as to how anyone, especially someone like Lindsay, would read the situation that way. He’ll just have to speed up their departure.

“Will you and Ray be cool?” Geoff inquires, nodding his head toward Ryan. Ray can guarantee they won’t be. Ryan glances at Ray with a small smile and he nods a bit.

“We’ll be fine,” he promises. Whatever Ryan thinks this means, he is sorely incorrect. Just because Ray has returned some physical affection doesn't mean he's ready to have a serious heart to heart with Ryan. Granted, Ryan has no way of knowing that he could be on fire and Ray would still want to kiss him. How annoying is that?

“Yeah,” Ray agrees. “We’re probably just gonna bum around.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourselves,” Geoff scoffs bluntly. “There’ll be no bumming around here.”

“Cute,” Ryan says scathingly. “I understand that you’re first reaction would be carnal desire, but have you considered that Ray and I have more important things to catch up on?”

“Aw, I was hoping for some bumming,” Ray murmurs in disappointment.

“You best get hoping a lot more,” Geoff assures him. The joke is, of course, Ray's not sure he'll ever trust Ryan enough to be touch by him so intimately again. On the bright side, Ryan's going to hate him once he finds out what Ray has been doing this whole time. They'll be even but Ray doubts Ryan and his newly aligned morality will see it that way.

It's better this way; Ryan's no good for him.

Geoff and Jack leave about fifteen minutes after Michael and Gavin. They've covered themselves up fairly well and had this been a real threat, Ray thinks they could have gotten away with this. For a little while, at least. It takes a lot more than some sunglasses and a bandana to fool someone like Joel. Geoff is probably under the impression that they're safer without Ryan or Ray with them. He's not wrong, really.

"So, we're totally going to make out, though, right?" Ray questions once they're alone. Ryan chuckles a bit. That's not a no. When Ray approaches him, though, Ryan stands and their heights separate them.

"Of course," he promises. "But there are some things I want to make sure are together first." That sounds pretty lame. Ryan leans down to give him a little peck and Ray frowns.

"Come on, man," he urges. "That can wait, can't it?" Ray grabs Ryan's hands so they won't grab his waist, instead putting his hands over the back of Ryan's and running their fingers together. There's a sort of disappointed or perhaps sad look that crosses Ryan's face when he realises Ray still isn't exactly comfortable with him.

Absolutely not. Ray knows what Ryan can do with those hands and he now knows Ryan will try to do those things to him if not watched.

"It could," Ryan muses. "But if I do it now, I won't have to worry about it later."

"Boo," Ray groans back. Ryan smiles softly. However, he does lean down to kiss Ray again, much more closely this time. Ray matches his open mouth gladly. It's obvious how Ryan longs for this just as Ray does, the kiss being very reminiscent of the ones from the beginning of their romantic relationship.

Ryan likes to learn and he likes having knowledge and it shows in the way he so slowly runs his tongue over the edges of Ray's teeth and along the ridges of the roof of his mouth. He's probably seeing if everything is how he remembers. Ray greatly doubts Ryan is capable of noticing not all of Ray's teeth are the same. That would be weird. Then again, Ryan's weird.

All Ryan wants to do is explore, though, to relearn every cut and corner of Ray's mouth. Which is fine for Ray, even if Ryan still taste like ocean water and redbull- left over from Michael, surely. The thought, admittedly, is a little odd for Ray; kissing Ryan when he's been kissing other people. It's like drinking from a glass four other people have already drank from.

Like far too many things, though, Ray is okay with it because it's Ryan. Ray has never really cared for being kissed on the mouth either, Ryan knows that, but here they are and when Ryan pulls away, Ray is displeased. Ryan leans his forehead against Ray's a bit.

"It'll be real quick, alright?" he assures. Ray scoffs.

"Whatever," is the mild reply. "It has to be pretty important." Ryan only grins at him, offering up no suggestion of the significance of his 'things'. He's probably just off to pack some last things and put his nose in his laptop, but that all sounds super boring to Ray.

"I'll be on the roof," Ray tells him as he lets Ryan's hands go and they step apart. "Don't need anymore surprise helicopters."

"Alright," Ryan agrees. "I'll let you know when I'm done." As Ryan heads for the bedroom, Ray takes for the roof. It's actually a rather nice place to sit and provides more privacy than anywhere inside. This house is clearly made to be shared closely and comfortably. Neither of which Ray is interested in.

Ray takes the time to empty a few things from his pockets, starting with a compact jammer. He leaves it off for now, just keeping it within reach, before he goes about preparing the gel patch for Ryan. The sedative Joel and Adam had dropped off for him is not something he wants to get on his skin which can be an issue when trying to get it on someone else's skin; the patch makes it easier.

As long as he doesn't touch the sticky side, the side he applies an appropriate amount of sedative to, then he'll be fine. It would have been much easier to do this while Ryan was already sleeping but Ray supposes this is better to fool the others with.

"Lindsay?"

Ray wonders if Ryan's forgotten he's wearing a mic or if he's just forgotten he's given Ray one. Neither of these things seem very likely. Have the others completely forgotten to put theirs on? Absolutely.

"No, he's," Ryan pauses. "He's not. Why? What's wrong, Lindsay?"

Maybe Ryan already excepts this. Maybe all those warning lights in his head that he's been ignoring are lighting up like fucking Christmas. Maybe he wants Ray to know he knows.

"He's what? Are you sure?" Ryan inquires but he knows. He sounds too calm to not. Then again, maybe he doesn't believe her. That would make this a lot easier.

"No. I- I'll deal with this."

He believes her. Ray flips the cell phone jammer on before Ryan can call any of the others. Unlike Ryan, they don't need to know about this little secret just yet. If he does this correctly, they shouldn't know until his job is already done.

Ray sighs to himself a little. He'd really been hoping to have those three days to spend with Ryan. This is lame.

"Shit," Ryan growls. Ray can hear him move about but after a few moments, he goes quiet. There's no way Ryan can win this fight and he knows it. He certainly can't flee because Ray will find him. Ray always finds him. He's probably angry.

When he speaks again, it's not into the mic. He's taken it off now, though Ray thinks it's a little late for that. Not that it would have mattered much, anyways. Ray had been expecting all of this.

"Ray," Ryan calls him down from the roof calmly. "I've finished." He thinks this is a tone that Ray would have fallen for but he's incorrect. Ryan's voice is too short; too rough. All the same, Ray heads down the ladder to meet him.

Almost immediately, Ryan attempts to sucker punch him. Ray barely has enough room to avoid it, but he does. He wouldn't have come down if he couldn't. Unlike Geoff, Ray is aware that Ryan is capable of knocking him out with a single hit. Geoff could probably do it, his punches pack enough power, but not consistently. Any hit from Ryan, especially with how upset he is, will render Ray completely unconscious.

That's why Ryan's not going to get a hit on him.

"You're still working for Roosterteeth?" Ryan growls. Ray hits him hard in the chest with the palm of his hand, throwing Ryan's centre of balance off and causing him to back up. It's enough for Ray to get out of the small closet and into the open hall where Ryan can't corner him.

"Ray," Ryan barks angrily. Ray has no desire to participate in this conversation. What is he really going to say? No, none of that is true? "You lied to me!" All of it is true.

Ryan advances on him with pure but calculated power. Ray knows to avoid the the hits just like Ryan knows not to throw uncontrolled punches. They had worked together so long and so closely that this should be Ryan's fight. He's the bigger weight class and can take a lot more hits than Ray.

"Why didn't you just take me back from the start?" Ryan demands. He's trying awfully hard to force Ray into a corner but it's not happening. Ray is as familiar with the layout of this house as Ryan is. "Why was all of this necessary? Just to torture me? Just so we can be even?"

When Ray dodges another blow, Ryan smashes a lamp to pieces and it actually startles Ray a little. Christ, Ryan's not trying to knock him out. _He's trying to kill him_. Ray is quick to put a little more distance between them. If there is anything Ray hadn't expected it's that Ryan is this angry.

"Say something," Ryan snaps harshly and he stops for a moment as if that's the reason Ray isn't answering.

"It's just part of the job requirements," Ray says with a simple shrug. Ryan should understand that.

"Making me love you again was a requirement?" Ryan bites.

"Again?" Ray replies. It had been pretty obvious Ryan had never stopped loving him. Ryan throws a wild punch and it gives Ray the opportunity to grab his arm and yank Ryan off his feet. He hits the ground hard with his chest and face, only to growl in frustration as he gets to his knees. "Well that was sloppy."

Ryan grabs his ankle with the intent of pulling him down, but Ray kicks him hard in the shoulder and he lets go. Ray puts more room between them.

"You never really forgave me, did you?" Ryan says between pressed teeth as he picks himself up again. Ray shakes his head.

"I told you, you didn't need to be forgiven," Ray reminds him. Ryan moves toward him steadily like he's stalking prey. Unfortunately for him, Ray's not a part of his food group.

"No, you're doing all of this just so you can get paid, right?" Ryan snaps sarcastically. "It _obviously_ has _nothing_ to do with getting even." When did Ryan start thinking like this? It's so surreal.

"Being even has nothing to do with forgiveness," Ray replies. "You know that."

" _Yes_ ," Ryan stresses out. " _It does_."

"Besides, I'm doing this so you _won't_ get executed by Republica," Ray assures him. "I- I still love you, too, Ryan. I absolutely wouldn't have wasted all this time, otherwise."

"No you don't," Ryan snaps. Ray internally flinches. "You know who loves me? Jack loves me. _Michael_ loves me. Gavin _loves_ me. _Geoff_ fucking _loves_ me. All people who haven't spent the last several weeks lying to me and planning on taking me back to my death."

"Are you listening to anything I'm saying?" Ray asks irritably. Ryan pushes on his space again, driving them into the small kitchen and greatly narrowing their range of motion.

"I'm not sure you ever loved me," Ryan sneers. "I was right, wasn't I? I was just _useful_ to you. As long as I'm still useful to you, you'll 'love' me."

"Yeah?" Ray agrees with some confusion. "So?" Wasn't that what their whole relationship started on; Ray being useful to Ryan? Ray doesn't understand why Ryan says that like it's a bad thing. He makes it sound like he'd still love his boyfriends if they stopped contributing to one another's necessities.

That's why they needed to be even. So Ray could rationalise still loving him.

"I didn't need to be forgiven because I was _right_ for trying to get you before you got me," Ryan says roughly. No, he didn't need to be forgiven because he did exactly what he was supposed to do; because Ray had been just as blind to the manipulation as Ryan had. As he still is.

"Are you even listening to yourself talk?" Ray questions. This is all nonsense. Ryan's angry over nothing. Ray's not even sure Ryan knows what he's talking about anymore. How could he still be questioning Ray ever loving him?

Ryan throws another wild fist but this time when Ray goes to pull him down, Ryan's ready for him. The downside to using an enemy's strength against them is that it requires being physically close. Due to this, Ryan has the perfect chance to grab the front of Ray's shirt and slam him into the counter. Ryan's balance is off, though, and Ray quickly kicks his feet out from under him and knocks them both to the floor.

Ryan doesn't limp his grip. He pins Ray against the cabinet hard by his collar and Ray grabs his wrists to negate some of the pressure. To stop Ryan from being able to throw any hits in, Ray swiftly pins his feet against Ryan's shoulders, right in the crook at the end of either of his collar bones.

This doesn't stop Ryan from grabbing his throat with both hands, though. Ray gasps out for breath as he tries to jerk free, using his feet as leverage to push Ryan away. As it is, Ryan is just too big. Ray's not worried. Ryan's grip on his neck loosens a little only to tighten angrily again before nearly falling away completely.

Throwing a punch hard enough to kill him isn't something Ryan had ever intended to do. He had let his anger drive him. Sitting like this, however, means that Ryan has to have the will and desire to strangle Ray until he's dead which he just doesn't have.

Ryan lets out a choppy breath, frowning down at Ray with a sudden lack of rage. He doesn't have it in him to hold up an anger like that. Ray has learned something new, though, Ryan is now capable of a lot more of it than before.

"I can't," Ryan murmurs quietly. "I can't. I'm not like you anymore, Ray. I can't-" he shakes his head limply. Ray reaches for his face softly and Ryan sighs. "I can't kill you just to assure my safety."

"Ryan," Ray says gently. Ryan squeezes down on his neck again and Ray winces his eyes closed.

"You're going to leave," Ryan tells him sharply. "And you're not going to come back, Ray. I _never_ want to see you again. Don't think for a second that this means I won't kill you if you try to fuck with me or my crew again. Do you understand?" Ray nods immediately and Ryan lets his throat go again.

"Ryan," Ray murmurs again. "I- one more kiss? Please?" he begs. Ryan looks so sad. "I just- I didn't get one last time."

Ryan's right. He's not like Ray anymore. He leans down to fulfill Ray's request, ever so gently laying his lips on Ray's and bringing them close together. Close enough for Ray to stick the gel patch to Ryan's neck. Ryan pulls away slowly, releasing Ray in order to touch his fingers against the gift he's been left. Carefully, Ryan peels it off, looking at it in horror and then at Ray.

"Sorry buddy," Ray says. "You and your crew gotta go back. Republica is waiting." Anger sweeps Ryan's face again and a growl forms at his throat before weakly fading away. He tries to reach for Ray's throat again but the sedative does its work and before he can do any amount of damage, Ryan slumps forward.

Ray relaxes a little, catching his breath before carefully moving Ryan off of him. Honestly, he expected this to be a little more difficult. That should keep him unconscious for about six hours; enough time to pack up the rest of the crew, get them on a plane, and get to the Roosterteeth home in the Gulf of Mexico. Ray can always apply another dose if he needs to.

Carefully, he pulls one of his gloves back on so he can press the gel patch back onto Ryan's throat. In his anger, Ryan has set up a decent setting for Ray to lure under. Fooling the rest of the crew into thinking Joel had launched a surprise attack will be easy. With Ryan down for the count, the crew will be so distressed Ray could probably say it was aliens and they'd believe him.

Ray rifles through Ryan's pockets to locate his mobile, idly wandering back into the living room as he turns the jammer off again. He redials Lindsay's number.

"Ryan?" she says before Ray gets the chance to.

"Lindsay," Ray replies. Lindsay sighs.

"Ryan didn't deal with it at all, did he?" she asks.

"Nope," Ray assures her. "Hey, don't disrupt my job again, though, okay?"

"I'm also on a job, Ray," Lindsay reminds him pointedly. He hasn't forgotten.

"Mine overrides yours," Ray insists. "You can check if you want. W underscore dogs." He waits on the line as she does just that. Though it would have been easy to call her off at any time, Ray had found it unnecessary. They had both been doing their jobs and not bothering each other. He isn't trying to tread on her feet, either.

"Alright," Lindsay murmurs. "Sorry 'bout the trouble." She's not sorry. "Good luck."

"Good luck," Ray echoes back. He tosses Ryan's phone into a corner of the room without thought. In a way, it's probably good that he didn't get to spend that extra time with Ryan. It's obvious now more than ever that Ryan's not the kind of person he needs. All that stuff he spat in anger; how weird was that? Weird and annoying. Not everything is about Ryan.

Ray has a life, too, one he enjoys, and he's going to continue to enjoy it with or without Ryan.

With the few extra minutes he has to spare, Ray gathers up the rest of his things. He's a pretty light packer but his Xbox has to go somewhere. When he hears the door open, Ray starts packing a little more frantically. He wants to give the impression he's concerned.

"Ryan!" Jack yelps. There's a small thump when he drops their bags and rushes to Ryan's side. Ray glances up to them shortly and Geoff glares at him.

"What the fuck happened?" Geoff demands.

"Joel surprised us," Ray says blandly.

"What do you mean 'surprised'?" Geoff sneers back. "What's wrong with Ryan?"

"What do you want me to say Geoff? I didn't think Joel would aggress by himself. He must have seen you guys leave and thought we were easier to hit," Ray assures him. Geoff grinds his teeth, looking back on Ryan before hurriedly reaching for his phone.

"What's on his neck?" Jack asks out loud.

"Don't touch it," Ray says quickly and Jack reels back. "It's probably poisoned. I used the same thing on Ridley."

"Is he going to die?" Jack questions urgently, needing nothing more than the very thought of this to reach for the gel patch again.

"Jack, you touch that and it's going to absorb into your skin, too. It's just a sedative. Republica wants us alive, remember?" Ray explains. Jack looks at a loss for what to do. Ray approaches his side with swift steps and digs out a plastic bag from one of the drawers. He peels the gel patch off into the bag and seals it shut before dropping it in Jack's lap.

"We have to go," Ray instructs. "If Joel is going to move on us, we need to get some distance."

"The lads are on their way," Geoff informs with an agitated sigh. "I fucking knew you two idiots couldn't handle yourselves."

"Is there a plane we can take?" Ray inquires. Jack nods mutely.

"At the airport. We usually have a private plane there," he says.

"Cool. We'll need to ditch our phones, too," Ray moves on. Geoff gives him a sharp look.

"What? Why?" he insists. He's not going to make this easy, is he?

"Because they're fucking cellphones?" Ray replies. "Because anyone with even the slightest understanding of frequency location will be able to find us otherwise?" That should be something that's pretty obvious. Not that Ray isn't already used to explaining the obvious.

"How long is Ryan going to be out?" Jack asks. Ray looks in their direction again.

"I dunno. Couple minutes, maybe? A few days?" he suggests.

"A couple days?" Geoff says in exasperation.

"I don't know what he was given," Ray shrugs. "Or how much. It's hard to tell with patches."

"I'm going to get him in the van," Jack informs. He clearly knows that 'maybe a couple minutes' never means a couple minutes. Ray tosses one of Ryan's bags in his direction.

"The sooner we move, the better," Ray assures. Geoff gives him a hand moving some more of the crew's bags. It is mostly necessities but Ray knows they're also packing heavy on the guns. They have every reason to.

" _Where_ are we going?" Geoff questions as they head into the already busted garage. Jack pulls Ryan into the passenger side, strapping his limp form into the seat and making sure he sits properly before closing him in. Ray and Geoff throw bags into the back.

"I'll figure it out when we get there," Ray promises. "Joel can't know where we're going if we don't know where we're going, right?" For a moment, it looks like Geoff isn't going to buy into this, but he smirks almost proudly.

"Yeah, okay," he agrees. It's so easy. Geoff thinks Ray defended Ryan from getting got. Ray hadn't intended on that, but he's not complaining. Such an odd man Geoff is.

From outside, there is a loud noise and then there are lads. Gavin and Michael bust in looking out of breath and tired. Almost immediately, Gavin rushes to the side of the van to worriedly look in on Ryan.

"We gotta go," Michael restates without hesitation. Until now, Ryan has largely been out of harms way. No one has really targeted him directly and it's likely that suddenly realising Ryan isn't unstoppable is worrying. Ryan definitely isn't unstoppable. Geoff nods.

"Drop your phones," Ray instructs as he goes to shuck his burner phone into the nearest bin. The others follow his lead, throwing their mobiles roughly in the same direct.

"That's everything," Jack says swiftly. "If it's not, that's too bad. Everyone in the van." They didn't need anything, anyways. If Ray could have gotten them to leave empty handed, he would have. Less baggage to deal with. Geoff gives Michael a boost into the back of the van by the arm not slung and Gavin hops in right after him.

Ray absolutely doesn't need help but Geoff sort of gives him a hand up anyways before climbing in with them and pulling the doors closed. Jack is in the driver's seat at once and they're on the shortest path to the airport as fast as this crummy thing can go.

"Steffie says she'll do what she can to keep us covered," Michael informs. "I don't know what the hell happened to Lindsay but I left her a message. I mean, if worse comes to worse, Griffon will just move on Los Santos, right?"

"Right," Geoff agrees. Los Santos is such a shitty town. Unlike them, Ray has no desire to ever come back here. Fortunately, he's sure he'll never have to. Few cities did Ray see more than once.

"I can't believe we're bloody leaving," Gavin murmurs quietly. "It's so weird, innit?"

"We'll be back, buddy," Geoff promises with an easy grin. Ray can't say for sure if that's true or not. He supposes that depends on what Republica wants with them. For whatever reason, Ray feels a bit uneasy when he remembers that Republica only ever promised not to kill Ryan. The others were completely free game. Then he assures himself that this is something that wouldn't affect him at all and the feeling goes away.

"What are we supposed to do when we get there?" Michael asks irritably. "Joel's not going to magically know where our plane lands?" Not 'magically', no.

"Not if we don't land in a designated landing zone," Ray answers. "We get new names, we keep our heads down, and we don't cause any trouble."

"That'll be a breeze for us," Geoff assures him sarcastically. Oh no, had this been real, they would so be dead. Ray still finds it baffling that Ryan trusts his life with these guys or that they trust their lives with each other. Thinking about it now, Ray's not even sure he wants to be on a plane with them.

On the other hand, he's also sure he can fly better than he can swim.

Jack parks the van in one of the hangars at the back of the airport, a relatively private place in the open field. They probably run drugs through here when they're not busy with more important things. Ray wants to point out that a Luxor is not actually a plane but is in fact a jet, but he withholds. He can actually fly this thing as opposed to some clunky commercial plane.

While Geoff and Jack start dragging Ryan into the jet, Michael and Gavin throw their luggage in. Ray handles his own luggage, taking with him his single duffle bag and rifle case into the cockpit. It's been a while since he's flown anything bigger than a chopper, but this is a really nice jet.

Jack looks surprised when he discovers Ray already preparing for take off.

"Are you-?" he gestures to the panel vaguely. Ray peers over his shoulder and the clear concern and disbelief on Jack's face is irksome.

"Yeah," Ray assures him with a quirk of a smile.

"Can you- fly this thing?" Jack inquires. That should have been obvious when Ray made it clear he's going to pilot it.

"I can, in fact, fly this thing," Ray replies gladly.

"But you can't drive a bus?" Jack points out.

"I can't ride a bicycle, either, but I'm pretty great on a Sanchez," he promises shortly. The point being, a bus and a jet were two completely different things. Besides, it's easy to just wing it while driving. Flying- no so much.

"There's a joke there that I want to make," Jack murmurs. "But I'll leave it alone."

"I mean, I ride a mean dick, too," Ray says.

"Yeah. That was the joke," Jack confirms with a small nod. He shares a grin with Ray. There's a few seconds where he just stands and watches like he wants to make sure Ray is telling the truth before he turns back to finish helping the crew.

"Jack," Ray stops him momentarily. Jack glances at him and Ray gestures to the co-pilot seat. "When everyone's settled in, I mean." Safety first or something? There's probably a good reason to have a co-pilot but Ray missed that part of the simulation.

"Sure thing," Jack agrees with a pleasantness he can't mask. Even now, they suspect nothing. Ray didn't think they would. If they hadn't put it together yet, then they certainly wouldn't any time soon.

It will be an easy three and half hour flight.

\- x -

"Whoa! Look at that!" Gavin brings everyone's attention out the window and to the large white building in the distance that reflects the sea like a mirror. They had seen the last of Texas coast not too long ago so it's pretty odd to see the island size building sitting on the water. It's massive even from a distance.

"What is that?" Michael murmurs. It sure as hell isn't an oil rig. Geoff has no idea what it is. There's no defining features to it, either, just a sleek cluster of buildings seemingly made mostly of windows. As they get closer, it's clear that it's some sort of resort or something. A few boats can be seen heading away from the building and a plane takes off from way up the side. They're heading straight for it, too.

"I didn't know there was anything like this out here," Gavin says curiously. No. Neither did Geoff. He looks to Ryan but unfortunately, Ryan continues to sleep without the slightest hint of waking. The only silver lining is that Ryan can use the rest. He looks so peaceful, too, compared to his usual unpleasant dreaming.

Geoff pats Ryan's thigh softly and gets to his feet before heading down the aisle towards the cockpit. Ray had said he would take them somewhere safe. Last time Geoff checked, a floating town is the last thing from safe. He wants to be on solid ground with room to run, not whatever this place is.

"This is Brownman with Foxtrot Alfa Kilo Echo zero eight. Requesting landing permission at the west bay," Ray speaks to what Geoff supposes is the building's overseer. Geoff doesn't interrupt, only watching passively as Ray and Jack already prepare to descend and land.

"I read you, Brownman!" a chipper voice replies. "West side gate two four six is clear for landing!" It may just be Geoff, but he certainly doesn't see any place for them to land here.

"Got it. Catalogue us for Luxor, pretty please. Thanks, Rwby," Ray says gladly.

"Sure thing! Safe landings, Brownman!" Ruby answers. Geoff can't quite put his finger on why that voice is so familiar. When the radio disconnects, he leans between the two pilots. Jack smiles at him faintly and Ray offers him a curious look.

"We're landing here?" Geoff inquires pointedly. Ray nods.

"We're just stopping for fuel," Jack assures him. That does make Geoff feel a bit better. As long as they weren't staying here.

"These guys know me," Ray explains. "I did work for them."

"It sounds like we want nothing to do with them, then," Geoff agrees in clear displeasure. Isn't the whole point to avoid anything that will tip them off.

"It's cool," Ray promises. "We won't be staying long, anyways."

"Unless you want to run out of gas in the middle of the ocean," Jack says with a nonchalant shrug. Geoff scoffs a bit but he doesn't have an argument to make. He just wants to know what's going on is all.

"Where are we landing?" he asks and he looks over the rapidly approaching building wall. It's curved into a circular shape though each of the sections themselves appear to be flat. Ray points over the control panel to something Geoff has to squint at.

"See that opening?" Ray murmurs. "Right in there." Oh no. That is a very small target for a very big plane. Geoff decides it's time to sit back down. He hurriedly returns to his seat and buckles himself in as tight as he can manage. Gavin gives him a questioning look.

"Did you find out?" Michael questions. Geoff shakes his head. "Well are we landing here because we're getting awfully fucking close."

"Just put your damn seat belts on," Geoff instructs and they obey somewhat nervously. It's not that Geoff doesn't trust Jack to make this landing, it's just that there's an anxiety in his belly he can't sway. Michael and Gavin obviously feel it, too. Geoff assures Ryan's seat belt is on snugly as well before reaching for a nerve calming drink.

"Pretty sure seatbelts aren't gonna bloody stop us from exploding against a building," Gavin mentions under his breath. Geoff gives him a dirty look.

"Don't say that. Why'd you have to say that?" Geoff asks sharply. Gavin is such a jinx, honestly, and he loves to do it when everyone's already nervous. Geoff knows his nerves are probably just from being away from Los Santos but recognizing that doesn't make the feeling go away. After running a city so flawlessly and without question, it's strange to be in the unknown.

Darkness takes the inside over suddenly, the sun no longer lighting up the inside and instead a faint glow from the interior jet lights illuminate their visions. Michael and Gavin peer out the windows at either side curiously. Geoff isn't as quick to want to look but when the very familiar landing bump rocks the jet, he takes a peek.

It's definitely a hangar of some kind, but he can't see any workers around at all. They slowly coast along and behind them, the opening closes up again, sealing them inside. Gavin is the first to get to his feet before they even come to a complete stop and nearly gets jousts to the floor for his efforts.

Shortly after landing, Ray appears from the cockpit and Jack is right on his heels, the small area not giving a lot of room for them to share.

"Let's go," Ray grins.

"I thought we're just refueling?" Geoff questions. This place already gives him the heebie jeebies.

"We are," Jack assures again. "It's going to take some time. We might as well stretch and eat."

"I'm bloody starving!" Gavin assures them all at the very mention of food.

"I could eat," Michael agrees gladly. Geoff looks toward Ryan. They weren't just going to leave him here, obviously.

"Alright, fine," Geoff grumbles. "Give me a hand, Jack." He unbuckles Ryan's seatbelt while Michael and Gavin get out of the way. Ray opens up the side door and they pile out into the open air to stretch their limbs and lungs. It takes a bit to maneuver Ryan out of the close quarters of the plane but he moves a bit when they jostle him. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he’s going to wake up right now. It’s improvement, though. Geoff isn’t sure what he’s going to do if Ryan ends up sleeping for days.

The lads are already fooling around in the open area of the hangar, playfully throwing little hits and swats at one another. It gets them to stretch, though, which is good for all of them. Ray shows off gladly, ducking and dodging out of the way of all of Gavin’s half hearted attempts until Gavin is wholeheartedly chasing him in circles. Michael in his injured state only makes idle attempts of tripping Gavin when he runs past.

“Are there supposed to be people here?” Jack inquires and Ray stops momentarily only to elegantly twirl out of the way when Gavin jumps at him. With a loud noise, Gavin hits the floor hard and Michael lets out a bubbly laugh.

“Nah. It’s mostly automated,” Ray assures. “I mean, if we hang around long enough, someone will probably show up but that sounds really boring.” He grabs the back of Gavin’s shirt and gives him a hand back to his feet with a bit of heft. Gavin’s clearly out of breath but he plays it off easily.

“Where’s the bloody food, then?” Gavin asks as he rubs his growling belly with both hands. Ray glances around a bit before pointing toward a door at the end of the hangar.

“We need to take the subway to the east side,” Ray explains. Subway? Exactly how big is this place? “I think the cafeteria is on the forty second floor? I dunno.” He gestures them to follow him over to what turns out to be a little elevator. They pile in comfortably and Jack adjusts to bare most of Ryan’s weight around his neck. Man, Ryan’s a lot heavier than Geoff remembers.

“Can we get like a wheelchair or something? Ryan's fat ass isn't the easiest thing to lug around, you know,” Geoff grumbles.

“What? No,” Ray answers bluntly. “Just carry him or leave him here.” That’s easy for him to say. Geoff doesn’t make a verbal response, rolling his eyes blandly. The doors close behind them and Ray touches the screen off to the side.

“Welcome back, Ray,” a voice says. It’s the same voice Geoff had heard earlier in the cockpit. Ruby, he thinks?

“Mute,” Ray says without even thinking about it and Ruby says nothing more. That was weird. Geoff glances at Jack sideways for a moment. Everything about this makes him ill on his feet and Jack looks just as uncomfortable.

“What kind of work did you say you did for these guys?” Geoff inquires as the elevator starts moving down. Ray looks at him strangely.

“What?” he asks rather sharply.

“You said you did work for these people,” Geoff reminds him irritably.

“No,” Ray replies shortly. “I mean, what kind of question is that? I’m a fucking mercenary, Geoff. What do you think I did for them?” Geoff wishes he had a snappy reply for that, but he doesn’t. Sure, he kind of figured that was the case but it also felt like Ray and Ryan used to do a lot more than just brutally killing people. It’s a quiet ride down, though, only punctuated by Ray browsing through a map on the touch screen embedded in the elevator wall.

When the doors open, Ray peers out momentarily before motioning the others to follow. It’s a brightly lit little room with a track that enters through one wall of the room and exits through another. A couple people stand around by themselves but they pay no mind to anything outside of their tablets. There’s two more doors to either side of the elevator they exit but Geoff isn’t so sure those are also elevators.

A single train carts comes rustling by as Geoff and Jack try to drag Ryan out of the elevator. It seems to be running on it’s own, a tiny little cart with enough room for only about ten people but clean and shiny like most subways aren’t. Ray looks a bit impatient when they take too long, struggling to keep Ryan upright. Ryan’s dead, limp weight isn’t exactly the easiest luggage to move with.

“Hold the doors, please,” Ray calls and one of the passengers politely stops the train car from leaving without them. He gives them a hand to hurry them along, grabbing Ryan's feet so they don't have to drag him. Everything about this shouts 'Weekend at Burnie's'. Except the part where Ryan groans faintly when they drop him in a seat.

"Thanks," Ray says idly to the passenger that had held the cart for them. The woman nods her head faintly but they exchange no words. Geoff flops down in one of the seats and Jack sits to Ryan's other side. The little shuttle continues on its way with no obvious driver's seat. Ray did say it's all automated.

Geoff examines the other passengers closely. This isn't a resort, he knows that immediately. Last time he checked resorts don't often allow small firearms. It's not just a single person, either. They all have various, unconcealed handguns on their person. Geoff cuts Jack an uneasy look.

The shuttle stops and a few people get off and a few get on but Ray makes no indication that this is their stop. Though he'd been in a favourable mood not long ago, that seems to have disappeared altogether and an unperturbed resting face takes its place. Geoff is starting to get the idea that stopping here was a mistake.

It becomes clear very quickly that these people don't appreciate his starring when they begin to glare at him in return. Wow, that got hostile fast. Ray shoots Geoff a short look but it diverts to Ryan soon after when Ryan shifts on his own. He's got to be waking up, though admittedly slowly.

When they come to the next stop, Ray motions them off. Here they go again. Fortunately, Ryan seems to move a bit on his own this time, standing somewhat when Geoff and Jack prop him on his feet. There's a moment where it appears as though he's going to open his eyes but it passes without fruit. Ray keeps the cart from leaving before they're all off and makes a short apology to the other passengers when they're clear.

This is far more politeness than Ray has ever showed them. Ray stops momentarily to check his phone before heading toward another elevator. This station is practically indistinguishable from the last, the only suggestion that it's any different is a sign reading 'East 1-2'. Geoff could see how a person could get lost here.

"Do you need help?" a passenger that has gotten off along with them offers Geoff, making a slight gesture to Ryan. They're offering to help carry him? That's pretty fucking weird, actually. Geoff is used to people minding their own business.

"No. Thanks," Ray interrupts before Geoff can answer from himself. "Have a good day."

"Have a good day," they reply and continue on their way with no hurt feelings. So that was a hundred times weirder. Geoff's heart sinks into the pit of his stomach. There's no way. It couldn't be.

Ray guides them to board an empty elevator and once they're all in, and eerily quiet, he directs it up via the wall panel. Gavin and Michael both look back at Geoff worriedly. They've come to the same conclusion he and Jack have.

 _No_. It's not. It just isn't.

Geoff nearly drops Ryan when the elevator doors open. The large, open room is bustling with dozens of people. Two massive, horizontal windows light up the room naturally and assure them that they're above ground again. From neither window is the ocean directly visible. Along the walls of the room are embedded about twenty screens of various sizes and uses with people gathered around most of them.

The main one, a larger screen positioned high up on the wall above a set of double doors lists a bunch of names unfamiliar to Geoff. Beside each name there are numbers that change every so often. After a few moments, the lists changes to a different set of people. It's a scoreboard. A handful of the other televisions host video of real time events. Others flip through various schedules like departure boards.

Ray knows exactly where he's going; straight to the double doors that sit parallel from the elevator they exit. With few other options, Michael and Gavin slowly wander after him, turning as they take in the sight with a sort of horrified awe. Geoff and Jack fall behind a little, having trouble keeping Ryan up and accepting the dawning realisation.

"Geoff," Jack whispers quietly. Ryan groans sorely between them and Geoff looks down at him sharply. He has to brace himself when Ryan grabs onto his shoulder in an attempt to hold himself up. With a pained sound, Ryan grips his head in his other hand and mumbles incoherently.

"Ray," he slurs out. Ray stops, turning to face them rather abruptly with a calm expression. Ryan grips Geoff a little harder, clearly realising who he's clinging to. "Geoff. Geoff. Ray is-"

"Yeah buddy," Geoff murmurs softly. "I think we know." Ryan is sober all at once. He jerks his head up hard, eyes flashing across the screens and then to the people that flood around them. Unsteady on his feet, Ryan takes a few steps forward to examine everything a little better; to make sure he's actually where he thinks he is.

"Roosterteeth," Ryan says in disbelief.

"Welcome home, Ryan," Ray smiles. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh man i don't even know what to say. thank you all for your support across this fic. stay tuned for the last chapter and possibly an epilogue and then we're onto the sequel. or prequel. who knows.


	16. Go Back Home

Ryan isn't sure what he expects to accomplish. A futile attempt at trying to hurt Ray, maybe. He already knows the game is over. They're in the middle of Roosterteeth; the very heart of the building. There is no leaving now. He doesn't even have full control of his limbs just yet but he still starts towards Ray with nothing but maliciousness on his mind like a bull to a red flag.

He wants to wonder how Ray could do something like this to him, but he doesn't. He knows why. He knows exactly why. There isn't a second where Ryan thought Ray would hold back and he doesn't. The moment Ryan closes in on him, Ray hits him hard in the jaw with his baton. Already weak on his feet, Ryan goes down easy and hits the ground with a thud.

"Ryan," Gavin whispers to him desperately, obviously trying not to get the attention of any other agents. Ryan cares little of them; the other agents won't interfere. He pushes himself up and climbs back to his feet with what effort he has left. A growl sits low in his throat.

"Ray," Ryan snarls and makes another half hearted attempt to grab at him. Again, Ray stops him hard, busting Ryan without hesitation in the side of his head. It knocks him to the ground without any effort and Ryan finds no more energy to try it again. It's over. Roosterteeth is going to kill him. Hell, they'll probably let Ray do the honours.

He should have known better. He _did_ know better. Ryan knew Ray would never change. Ray isn't capable of the kind of change Ryan had gone through. He is Republica through and through; a liar to his very core. Ryan can't believe he fell for this. He can't believe he let Ray pull his strings so easily.

To think he thought they could be together again.

"Good afternoon, Ray," a voice speaks gladly. Ryan glances up halfly but Ray's attention is completely on him. He knows Ryan is desperate and Ray won't be giving him the chance to flail, hurting himself and anyone else in the process. "How are you?"

"Afternoon, Tina," Ray replies. Remembering all of this again, being here again, makes Ryan sick to his stomach. "'M alright, thanks. How're you?"

"I'm good, thank you. Do you want some help?" Tina offers and she looks down at Ryan and then to the rest of the crew standing around on nervous feet. They know better than to draw their guns here but like Ryan, they also know there isn't going to be an escape from this. Ryan may be dead in the water, but they could still go home. At least, that's what Ryan wants to think. There's a reason Ray brought them along.

"Nah. I got it," Ray assures her and he smiles to her faintly. She smiles back.

"Alright. Have a good day, then," Tina answers neatly. Ryan gets to his feet and Gavin helps him up hurriedly with little pulls and tugs. Once upright again, Gavin makes haste to hide behind him. The others are quick to crowd around him as well, Ryan acting as a safety line in this frightening place.

"Tina," Ray's attention is momentarily split, but Ryan knows every agent in the room is watching him carefully. It's so obvious he's so angry and his crew so unnerved that every last one of the agents are ready to subdue them at a moments notice. They won't interfere if Ray has it under control, but the second they think their own lives are in danger, they will act. That's no it something Ryan wants to initiate.

"Yeah?" Tina pauses long enough to look back at him.

"Wanna share the training floor with me later? When I'm done with this," Ray nods at Ryan faintly. Tina smiles in a friendly fashion and Ray returns it.

"Sounds great," she agrees. When she goes on her way, Ray's attention is back on them and his smile gone. He retracts his baton between his hands and sheaths it back into his pocket like he doesn't expect Ryan to come at him again. It's clear he expects them to follow when he begins back to his destination. Without much of a choice, they do. There's no where for them to go; no escape route.

"What do we do, Ryan?" Jack asks quietly. Die horribly. Ryan has the wit to not say that, though. He doesn't know what to say. He wants to apologise because this is all his fault. Every decision he's made has been the wrong one from the very beginning. If he starts saying sorry now, they'll just panic. The last thing Ryan wants to do is cause them more unnecessary distress.

"We're going to see the director," Ray tells them simply as he taps on the door console. If they're lucky, he won't be in right now. They're not lucky. The doors open up and Ray gestures them to walk ahead of him. Ryan grinds his teeth in his skull. Between here and the director's office, there shouldn't be any other agents. If he wants to escape, he'll have to do it before they reach the office.

Ryan knows there's no chance because to do that, he'd have to fight Ray. All this time Ray has been faking it. He's been faking everything. There's no way of knowing what Ray is truly capable of now. After everything he's orchestrated over the last few months, Ryan fears it's so much more than he's leading on.

It's a quiet walk down to the office and it's everything Ryan remembers. It's cold and sterile and dead to its very core. The director doesn't appear to be in at the moment, but that does them little good. He can't be far off and that's a fight Ryan can't even think about. Ray would kill him but the director would kill his lovers.

"It'll just be one moment, Ray," a female voice assures from the ceiling. Ryan doesn't remember that voice, that's certain.

"No problem," Ray answers simply. The room they wait in is void of anything useful or anything at all. The right and left walls display video of the sea to make it appear as though they're windows but they're not. At the other end of the room is a small balcony and stairs that lead into the director's private room. There's no cover, no place to sit, no decor- nothing.

All they can do is stare silently at Ray's back as he reads through his tablet. It's such an aggravating display of self assurance; like Ray knows for a fact they won't try anything. Ryan wants nothing more to show him wrong but getting into a fight he can't win isn't something he needs to do right now.

"So everything you said-" Gavin speaks out first and Ray glances over his shoulder curiously. "It was all a lie?"

"Pretty much," Ray agrees with a shrug and nod. Shameless, like always.

"This is what he does, Gavin," Ryan assures him calmly. "He lies and he cheats and he manipulates to get what he wants and he doesn't care who he hurts or who he kills." To this, Ray snorts a forced laugh.

"I wish," he replies irritably. "You assholes were so unpredictable I'm only going to score a maximum of seventy percent. If I'm lucky."

"Fucking good," Michael snaps aggressively and he jerks an unthought step forward. If it weren't for the fact that his arm is still broken, he'd probably attack Ray himself. Ray gives him a short look, focusing mainly on the raw scar painted across Michael's face.

"One of the reasons I got deducted a shit load of points is because _you_ kept getting hurt," Ray promises plainly. "This was only a three star job. I don't know how you guys managed to fuck this up so bad." Well of course, Ray had never managed to get a perfect score on a three star with Ryan before. Why would that change now?

"What's wrong with you?" Jack demands sourly. "What did we do to make you do something like this to us? And don't pretend this is all about Ryan because it clearly isn't." He's right. This has to be more than just association. If this had just been about Ryan and Ray, things would have been much different. Ray didn't tangle them up in this just to get to Ryan. That would have been too much effort.

"Why does there have to be something wrong with me?" Ray replies in annoyance. "Seriously, stop trying to blame me for your personal problems. I had a job and I got it done. That's it. I don't care about your relationship issues, I don't care about your personal insecurities, I don't care if you like me or not. All I care about is that I got it done and that Ryan isn't getting the fucking chopping block, okay?"

"But he is!" Gavin yelps. Ray had tried to tell Ryan this earlier and of course Ryan hadn't believed him. He still doesn't even if there's no reason for Ray to lie now. Ray has never needed a reason to lie.

"Look, my job was to bring the five of you back here alive and relatively uninjured," Ray says, sending Michael a pointed stare. "I did that. I'm done."

"And what exactly happens to us now?" Ryan questions harshly. "Or do you care?"

"Nope," Ray answers bluntly. "You made yourself perfectly clear, Ryan." What Ryan has made clear, or what Ray thinks Ryan made clear, is hard to say. Ryan has said a lot of thing over the time Ray's been back in his life. Obviously whatever it is, it isn't anything great for Ryan.

"You're a fucking piece of shit," Michael barks angrily. "I thought you loved Ryan." Ray doesn't respond. He turns away from them again, signifying that he's no longer interested in this conversation.

"That was clearly another lie," Jack grumbles bitterly when Ray doesn't bother confirming or denying the statement. "I see why Ryan had been so paranoid, now."

"Yeah, I see why he fucking tried to kill you when he had the fucking chance," Michael snaps.

"You don't know shit," Ray assures them halfly. If he is going to elaborate, and Ryan doubts he was going to, he doesn't get the chance. The back door opens up and out steps the director and his partner just as Ryan remembers them. Six years obviously hasn't changed them, either.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the director grins. "Welcome home."

"Burnie?" Geoff steps forward automatically and panic wells up in Ryan's chest like fire. He reaches out to pull Geoff back, but Geoff smacks his hand away distantly like he's not even paying attention. He walks right past Ray to get a closer look, stopping near the bottom of the steps. "Holy shit, man, is that you?"

"Geoff!" Burnie replies happily and he walks down to meet him. Ryan doesn't understand what's going on. There's no way this is happening; there's no way Geoff had ever been a part if this.

"Gus," Geoff says curiously, facing Burnie's partner as well. They smile at one another like they're old buddies and then Geoff is hugging them both so much closer than Ryan wants him to be. Being in the same damn room is too close. "I fucking thought you guys were dead."

"Geoff," Ryan calls to him urgently. Whatever's happening, he wants it to stop. Burnie and Gus were not their friends- could never be their friends. This is so wrong.

"Shut up for a minute," Geoff instructs idly, not even bothering to give Ryan any of his attention. It drives the panic in Ryan's chest up into his throat like bile. "What the fuck happened to you two?"

"Well," Burnie looks around the room a little but it's clear the gesture speaks to more than just this room. "Remember that shit we pulled back in the canyon? RvB?"

"Yeah," Geoff snorts humorously. "Of course I fucking do."

"Someone was watching and offered me a job; director of the Roosterteeth branch of Republica. Which I fucking took, _of course_ ," Burnie assures him like it shouldn't even be a question.

"I wanted to tell you sooner," Gus insists matter-of-factly. "Burnie said you looked 'happy and domesticated'."

"Okay. Now hold on, I did _not_ say that," Burnie corrects quickly, holding his hands out as if to placate Geoff. The gesture makes Ryan's spine stiffen nervously. "I said you looked happy and _content_ with your new life. You had a wife and were out of the military. I didn't think you'd want to be dragged back into something like this." Geoff hits him hard in the upper arm causing Burnie to flinch away mildly with a quiet 'ow'. Ryan is so confused.

"You asshole. I fucking left the army because I thought I got you guys killed. What the fuck? You couldn't have fucking told me you dickholes were okay?" Geoff demands roughly. "Jesus Christ, dude."

"Republica is a little over protective about that kind of information," Gus explains. "We would have had to, I don't know, kill you or something. Look, we were new at this once, too, okay?"

"Are you gonna fucking kill me now?" Geoff asks but the way he says it is more like a dare than anything else. "I mean, sending this Narvaez kid at me, Burnie? Really?" He motions to Ray suggestively and Ray waves a bit.

"Hey, Ray's a good agent," Burnie promises. "Gus and I had it all planned out, don't worry. We brought you here for a reason, you know."

"I hope it includes me kicking your fucking ass for making me think you guys were dead all these years," Geoff says pointedly. Burnie fondly pats his shoulder.

"I think I'd really have you running for your money on that one," Burnie assures with a small laugh. "But first, let's see if I can make it up to you. I have an offer for you."

"And beer," Gus tacks on knowingly. Geoff gladly gives two thumbs up to approve this idea and assure he's listening. Burnie guides him back up the stairs to the backroom, his hand perched on Geoff's shoulder much too intimately.

"Come on. We can discuss everything in my office," Burnie says.

"Geoff," Ryan calls after him desperately. He can't. Who knows what Burnie would do to him. Ryan doesn't care what Geoff thinks he knows, the only way this can end is bad. There's no way these are Geoff friends. It's so incredibly unlikely.

"Ryan," Geoff pauses long enough to give him a silencing look. "Chill out for two seconds, man. I'll be right back." But what if he isn't? There's no way Geoff could handle himself against the director of RT. Even then, Geoff dumbly wanders into the back room with him. Gus hangs back a minute.

"Thanks for your work, Ray," he says contently and turns his attention to his tablet. "Everything's been wrapped up and your payment should clear some time today. Congratulations on your achievement."

"Cool," Ray nods his head shortly. "I'm out, then." He heads past the rest of the crew without so much as looking at any of them and Gus doesn't stop him. Ryan is honestly torn. There's no way Ray knew the consequences of his actions; no way he knew that they wouldn't just slaughter Ryan immediately. It makes so much sense though, now. Ray had cleaned all the skeletons out of their closet.

Jack's FBI status, Geoff's military buddies, Michael's mob connections, even the guys that would have dragged Gavin back to MI6. At some point Ray would have had to have realised why Burnie was having him do all of it. That doesn't make a difference in him taking the job in the first place, though.

Ryan can take a guess as to what this all means but he won't get ahead of himself. He had abandoned Republica and openly fought to not return. They surely won't treat him well in light of that. Besides, there was a reason he never wanted to come back here.

"I've called Blaine up to have a look at you, Michael," Gus continues, pointing to Michael's broken arm. Michael grabs his arm defensively with a scowl. He's no more sure about this situation than Ryan is; than any of them are. Everything they know about RT from Ryan and Ray isn't anything good.

"Ryan," Gus sighs a little. "Feel free to wander, but don't try to run, alright? I've granted you temporary access to the system while you wait. Knowing those two, this might take a while."

Ryan needs to know what's going on in there. More importantly, he needs to know Geoff isn't going to do anything dumb to try and help Ryan. It's impossible for Ryan to find words as Gus heads into the room with Geoff and Burnie, closing the door behind him. Burnie had always seemed like a nice guy, sure, but that's just part of the act, right? He and Geoff couldn't really be old friends. Someone like Burnie couldn't have friends.

"Ryan," Jack says with clear concern. "What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know," Ryan admits. "I don't- I think Burnie is offering Geoff a job." He couldn't be. If that was the case, then surely Burnie would have just come out in the open and say that. Then again, seeing Burnie would have freaked Ryan out way more than seeing Ray had. This is ridiculous. Geoff doesn't have the mentality for Republica.

"No," Gavin breathes. "He couldn't be. Not Geoff."

"Aren't all you guys supposed to be psychopaths? No offense," Michael insists unsurely. "Geoff's not- he's not one of them." Ryan's not so sure anymore. He heads out of the office with quick feet, the others following him without needing to be prompted. Gus had given him access to the network and as minimum as it may be, Ryan is sure there's a reason for it.

Ryan leads them back out the way they came and down a flight of stairs to the next floor down. He knows the layout of this building too well to ever forget it. Being here again is so weird and unnatural now. This place had once been home to him and now it just seems ugly and crude.

A few people sit around here and there but for the most part, the lounge is empty. Most of RT is empty. It's a big building for what little employees they have. When Ryan was here, they'd just been scratching on eighty workers and he can't imagine they've grown by much. Ryan acquires an empty table for them to use and seats himself without thought, his boyfriends hurriedly following his lead.

The slim table top lifts up with ease, acting as a touch screen for whatever business he needs to conduct. When he touches it, it recognises him. James Haywood; temporary access until revoked. He knows that whatever he looks at, Gus is going to know about and remembers to only seek out what is absolutely necessary.

A black bar appears across the top to remind him his access is restricted and monitored. It's easy to ignore. Ryan gets straight to the point, bringing up Ray's file with a couple taps of the finger. It looks like Joel hadn't been lying about that; Ray's file is super locked. He doesn't even bother checking his own. Instead, he quickly brings up the list of recently completed jobs.

Ray's is still near the top.

When he opens it up, Ryan is aware instantly that it's several pages longer than average especially for only being three stars and it is, in fact, a three star mission. Ryan almost wants to feel insulted. He taps through the first two pages of summary to get straight to the objectives.

Recover James Haywood alive. Bonus objective; no medical treatment required. Completed.

Gavin is practically in his lap while Michael and Jack lean in closer than strictly necessary to read the screen as well. Ryan definitely isn't the only one on the list.

Collect Geoff Ramsey alive and the same bonus objective. Completed. Collect Jack Pattillo, collect Gavin Free, collect Michael Jones. The only one that stands out is Michael's who has a failed bonus objective but completed main objective. That's not all, either. There's an entirely separate set of objectives as well, unusual for just one job.

Eliminate following targets. There's a series of profile pictures of which many Ryan is familiar with; Jack's partner, the 'leader' of the Insurrection, Ridley, Kraid, the head Ray had tried to give Michael. The list is long and some of them Ryan only distantly recognises from cross fire or lackies that he never gave the time of day. Every last one of them has been marked as complete.

Preserve the following targets. More pictures follow, these ones far closer to home. Lindsay is the first and Caleb is listed right after her. Then there's Kerry, Steffie, Griffon, Dan, and a few others Ryan knows to work for Fake AH. They're all listed as pending which, honestly, is just as a precaution.

On top of that, there are extra bonus objectives. Maximum civilian deaths, twenty; failed. Maximum injuries sustained, five hundred and eight over a thousand; completed. Majority trust earned; completed. Complete secrecy; completed. No questioned asked; failed.

Ryan sits back a little. Ray had been lying about everything for _a score_. Everything he'd done, letting himself get kidnapped, pretending to help them, befriending them, forgiving Ryan- all so he could get _bonus_ points. He could have told them what was going on at any point, Ray had to have known they wanted to offer Geoff a job, but he hadn't because that would have plummeted his precious fucking total.

No, Ryan's not surprised. To some degree, he understands, too. If Ray had come clean, Ryan never would have let him stay. He certainly never would have let Geoff consider something like this. This is inane.

"Ryan," Jack says sadly. Ryan looks at him but he doesn't know what to say. He can't even be upset; he had never stopped loving Ray, never stopped trusting him. Ray hadn't made him fall in love again. Ray really had just been doing his job. "Are you alright?"

Michael and Gavin both look back at him. Ryan isn't sure, really. He just feels sort of numb right now and that's only because he doesn't want to feel ashamed or guilty. He could have prevented all of this if he hadn't been so wound up in old feelings. At least, that's what Ryan thinks. A part of him understands that this is the game Ray plays, that there's nothing he could have done better because Ray would have bent and twisted and manipulated anything Ryan did to benefit himself.

"I don't know what's going to happen now," Ryan murmurs.

"Are you going to start working for Republica again, Ryan?" Gavin asks. The way he says it makes it sound like it would be the worst thing in the world. Ryan knows the loopholes, though, and he knows that he wouldn't have to stay here. Things would just be a little different. He could take a contract like Lindsay or something. It would be better than execution, wouldn't it?

"I don't know," Ryan says faintly.

"Are we?" Michael adds on pointedly.

"I don't know," Ryan repeats. God, he hopes not. The lot of them working for Roosterteeth sounds like a nightmare.

"Hey," a familiar voice speaks to them and Ryan glances over minutely. "Afternoon, guys. Are you, Michael?" He holds his phone up to display a picture of Michael that had probably been taken in the elevator.

"What's it fucking to you?" Michael snaps back.

"Michael," Ryan says, tired and worn. "This is Blaine. He's the in house RT doctor."

"I heard your arm is broken," Blaine sings with a far too cheery tone.

"He also happens to be an agent, so," Ryan trails off. Blaine grins. Everything here that used to be so normal to Ryan now seems so bizarre; every fake emotion included.

"If you want to come with me, I'll see what I can do about that," Blaine assures.

"You don't have to," Ryan tells Michael idly. "But there's really no point not to." He'll definitely get Michael's arm in working condition a lot sooner than it would naturally. Besides, Jack had only done what he could and that wasn't a lot especially with their lack of equipment.

"Your boyfriends can come," Blaine promises. Michael scoffs harshly.

"Fucking whatever," he grumbles. Really anything to get their minds off of what was happening is alright with them. It's a distraction that doesn't distract them.

Blaine leads them to the makeshift room of this section and by the time they arrive, everything has already been set up for Blaine to work. The actual doctor's office is located in another building but the automated systems make it possible to move predetermined rooms around within a few minutes.

Michael is motioned to sit in a little chair and Jack automatically pulls one up right beside him to keep a close eye on them. They knew Caleb, RT or not, but Blaine they didn't. Of course, Blaine doesn't seem to care even remotely that Michael might not be altogether comfortable with this. That's something Michael will have to voice for Blaine to realise and Michael's not going to do that. Ryan and Gavin take a seat against one of the walls.

"Let me know when you can't feel your arm," Blaine instructs as he rolls Michael's sleeve up and clasps a solid band around his upper arm. Michael lets out a pained hiss immediately.

"Jesus fucking Christ, I can't feel my arm," he assures sharply. Blaine grabs the broken bone hard and when Michael doesn't react, he grins.

"Good. You'll probably want to look away," Blaine says as he begins to unbandage Michael's makeshift splint. He has little interest in anyone else or what they're doing so Ryan has to take it upon himself to make sure Gavin isn't watching too closely.

"Gavin," he calls faintly. "You don't want to see this." They really don't need him making himself gag right now, either. Fortunately, Gavin doesn't need to be told twice. He jerks himself around as Blaine cleans the skin around the broken bone. Ryan distracts Gavin a bit by tangling their fingers together and Jack distracts Michael by rubbing his knee affectionately.

Blaine snaps Michael's arm between his hands with ease, the noise causing Gavin to jump and nearly whip around. He wisely stops himself. Michael looks a little dizzy as well. Ryan knows it's an odd sensation to not be able to feel your limb while someone is clearly hurting you.

"James passed out the first time he was worked on," Blaine laughs. "Weirdly enough, even if you can't feel it, seeing it happen causes the same physiological reaction."

"Would you shut the fuck up and just do whatever the hell it is you're doing?" Michael snaps at him. Blaine frowns a bit but only grumbles to himself as he takes a scalpel and opens Michael's arm up. He works relatively quiet after that, only occasionally promoting Michael to how he feels or if he does. He doesn't. With his arm split wide open and the bone revealed, they'd all know if he could feel it.

Ryan watches mostly to make sure Blaine isn't doing anything unkosher. It's clear that techniques have changed in the last six years, though. It ends up being a quick procedure made even quicker without the need for paperwork or drugs or proper safety measures. Before he knows it, Michael's broken humerus isn't broken anymore and Blaine is stitching him back up.

"It'll take a day or two for the glue to cure and bond, so make sure you don't put any stress on it until then," Blaine instructs. Michael makes a noncommittal grunt in reply.

"Glue?" Jack echoes curiously.

"Marrow glue, yeah," Blaine agrees, holding up the little syringe full of a gritty paste to view. "The new guys down in the lab came up with it a few days ago."

"A few days?" Jack bites in disbelief. "Is it going to poison him or something?"

"Probably not," Blaine shrugs. "Not short term, at least. But hey, I fixed his arm." Jack looks to Ryan sharply as if he's going to do something about it. Ryan doesn't really see the issue. Caleb had been doing the same stuff to them for years except Caleb made sure there were a lot of drugs in them first. That's probably because they're scary when they're hurt. Blaine applies some local anaesthetic to Michael's new stitches and wraps a compression patch around the area to both keep his bone clamped in place and stop him from being able to pop his stitches. Then he takes the cuff off again and Michael flexes his fingers as he gets control if his limb again.

"If that groady roadburn leaves a scar, come see me again and we'll take care of it," Blaine assures with a friendly smile. Michael gives him a short stare before averting it to Ryan. What do they want to hear? Blaine is a great doctor by RT standards which makes him an extraordinary one by normal standards. Like most agents, though, he either doesn't understand or doesn't care when he makes his patients uncomfortable.

"Hey," Ryan gets Blaine's attention with relative ease. "Michael doesn't owe you for this, got it?" They aren't about to start this. Michael isn't staying here and neither is anyone else if Ryan can help it. Blaine quirks a curious smile but he shrugs a little like it isn't that important to him.

"Are you alright, Michael?" Jack inquires gently. Michael offers a scoff in return, assuring he's perfectly fine or at least willing to pretend he is.

"Blaine, leave the room pretty please," a voice speaks and everyone automatically glances up. Obviously they've changed systems while Ryan was away. This certainly isn't Phyllis.

"On my way," Blaine assures gladly. He picks his tablet back up and exits the room without stall, leaving all his equipment and tools to be cleaned by the automatic system. Preferably not while they're still here. Unless they've for some reason downgraded, Ryan doesn't think the new system is incapable of recognising their presence whether they're a part of RT or not.

Thankfully, he's right. On the other hand, it seems Blaine was ejected for a reason and that reason is Geoff. Geoff enters the room not seconds after Blaine takes his leave, allowing them a private place away from any prying eyes. Ryan isn't sure if it's a good or bad thing that his talk with Burnie was shorted than anticipated.

"Geoff," Jack says immediately and Gavin is on his feet in a jerking motion.

"What the bloody hell happened, Geoff?" he demands urgently. Geoff doesn't look particularly distraught and he definitely doesn't look injured. Ryan isn't sure what to do with this, though. Geoff isn't considering it, right? Hell, Ryan doesn't even know _what_ he's considering, really. He only has a guess but he can't imagine anything Burnie would offer would be fantastic for them.

"Calm down," Geoff instructs with some eased hand gestures. "Burnie and Gus and I just had a chat."

"Yeah," Ryan agrees shortly. "What we're worried about is what that chat was about." It's at this that Geoff seems to frown a little. No, nothing Burnie could ever offer would do them good. Geoff sighs.

"Burnie wants us to come work for Roosterteeth," he says. Ryan hates that he's right. "All of us. He's been planning this for a while."

"And you told him no, right Geoff?" Jack stresses pointedly. Geoff looks at him with something of an uneasy expression. "Geoff. You didn't."

"Look, I haven't told him anything yet," Geoff promises swiftly. "I told him I'd have to talk it over with you guys and that I'd think about it."

"You can't be serious, Geoff!" Michael barks.

"We don't have to accept," Geoff grumbles. "We're free to go home whenever we want. The offer Burnie made me, though, it's not bad, guys."

"You can't Geoff," Ryan insists firmly. "This kind of life- it's horrible."

"Ryan, buddy, you don't have much of a choice," Geoff explains with a punctual frown. "If you don't 'come back' to Roosterteeth and renew your contract, they really are going to kill you." Ryan should have seen this coming. He knew they'd never let him leave and now they were holding it over his crew's head.

"I can stay," Ryan assures. "I can figure something out here. Don't worry about me."

"That's great, Ryan," Geoff says mildly. "But you need to hear what Burnie wants from us."

"Geoff!" Gavin whines loudly. "After everything we know about these guys, you suddenly want to fucking join them? They're the bad guys!"

"They're fucking not, actually," Geoff corrects. Burnie got to him good. "Let's be fair here, Ryan and Ray are not the best examples of what it's like to be an agent of Republica."

"Burnie is trying to sweet talk you, Geoff," Ryan urges. "He's lying."

"Has Burnie ever lied to you, Ryan?" Geoff inquires. Ryan is very quick to go quiet. Well no, as far as he knows, Burnie, nor Gus for that matter, has ever really lied to him. That's hardly fair, though, Ryan had never spent a lot of time with either of them.

"That's besides the point," Ryan tries. "Just because he hasn't doesn't mean he won't." It definitely didn't mean he couldn't. Geoff rolls his eyes.

"Look, Burnie doesn't want us to just be plain ol' Republica psychopaths. We'd be more like- instigators," Geoff explains. Ryan doesn't want to hear it at all. "More importantly, we would be more of a subsection of Roosterteeth. Free up Burnie's hands to work on some other projects."

"What does that even mean?" Jack asks, his patience no thicker than Ryan's.

"For starters, we wouldn't necessarily be taking jobs like Ryan used to. We'd mainly be working directly for Burnie. Most of it is literally just wreaking havoc. We'd be out there creating jobs for Roosterteeth and getting intel when needed. If we need to start a war to stimulate work, then we start a war." This is all ridiculous. Geoff speaks like it's a perfectly acceptable business deal when it's not. Nothing about Republica is reasonable. Surely Geoff could understand that.

"And yeah," Geoff goes on with a shrug. Everyone's too shocked to really say anything. "If we agree, that means we can never leave but that's no where near as big of a deal as Ryan made it out to be. Ryan's just a fucking idiot." Okay, Ryan already knows that. Geoff doesn't have to rub it in. Besides, he had been very stressed out at the time and honestly, if he hadn't met the Fake AH Crew, he probably would have come back to Republica. This is all incredibly irrelevant, though.

"Gus says all our expenses will be covered within reason. Which to him, apparently means enough cash to literally buy every building in Los Santos five times over. Plus, we keep any goods we get in our work so," Geoff balances his hands. Of course Republica would pay them well. The more work the agents get, the more revenue they make, the bigger they can build. If Burnie wants to send them out to make sure Roosterteeth always had work, then of course he wouldn't have an issue with giving them a huge budget. Ryan's not even sure this would make a dent in their fortune. Roosterteeth easily posses more wealth than it should.

"On top of that, we get free housing, free health and dental, and all of Republica's knowledge at our disposal. We'll have to spend a year or two training here just because Burnie doesn't want us to instantly get vaporized by something we're not ready for but," Geoff says, trailing off a bit. He glances over them slowly as he adjusts his stances, trying to ease their concerns with his relaxed state.

"I don't see why we shouldn't," he concludes.

"Because they'll kill us when we fuck up?" Michael bites. Geoff looks at Ryan suggestively.

"You wanna tell him how many jobs you royally boned? And what? They made you take newbie jobs for a while? We literally have a higher chance of being killed by Ryan than by Republica," Geoff promises. Ryan nearly feels his heart leave his chest. He's not wrong and that's scary.

"How about because we belong in Los Santos?" Jack insists sharply. Geoff looks at him blandly.

"Los Santos is a piece of shit and you know it. We were living the good life and it was still shitty," Geoff argues. There was a thin line between fighting to keep their title and fighting to keep their lives.

"What about Griffon?" Jack continues unhappily. Geoff quirks a bit of a smile at this.

"You didn't think she set us up by chance, did you?" he replies vaguely. Burnie had clearly been in this for the long run. Ryan has no idea why, though. How could this be that important?

"But we're not like these people, Geoff," Gavin murmurs. Geoff turns to him with an unamused expression.

"Are you for real? Jack fucking killed his partner in cold blood without hesitation. Michael has never needed a reason to kill someone. _Never_. Gavin, I'm pretty sure when you found out someone you used to work with died your response was 'good'. That's not normal, buddy," Geoff lists off without even needing to think about it.

"That doesn't make us one of these people, Geoff," Jack answers coldly.

"It totally does. Do you know how many people we've killed in the last six years alone? A lot. Like, proportionally a lot. And it's not even like it was all for work or survival. It was fucking sport. Did any of you ever care that they were _people_? Living, thinking human beings? Do any of you care now?" Geoff questions bluntly. No one says anything because he's right. Holy shit he's right. How did Ryan never see that? God, this kind of stuff was so woven into his mind that he hadn't even thought twice about it- it was all just normal. It still is just normal. It's now that Ryan realises he had never really changed, had he? If anything, he'd gotten worse.

Even Ray only killed for survival.

"This is what I was talking about," Geoff says with an irritable scoff. "Ray and Ryan are really bad examples of what Republicans can be like."

"Republicas," the system corrects instantly and they all jump a little at the sudden interruption from the disembodied voice.

"Will you do that thing where you mute?" Geoff instructs shortly. The voice goes quiet. "Also. Stop fucking eavesdropping."

"You know it's a computer, right?" Ryan murmurs idly.

"A fucking nosey computer," Geoff corrects. He moves on without being phased. "Look, all I'm saying is that this is a good deal. I've known Burnie and Gus for a long time and they wouldn't steer me wrong."

"But that's what these guys do, Geoff," Michael tries and even he sounds a tad nervous.

"Alright, here's the thing though," Geoff finally says. "What could Burnie get from us being alive that he couldn't have already gotten from us being dead?" Ryan's upset that he has a point. Burnie seems to have put a lot of time and effort into getting them here and if Ryan is understanding, a lot of time trying to get them together, too. Now he's not sure this has ever been about him. If they had really wanted him dead, he would be already.

"And you know what?" Geoff continues. "Fuck Los Santos. Fuck the gang. All I've ever really wanted in life is a bunch of cash and good booze. And I'll settle for you assholes, _I guess_. You know what I get from this deal? A bunch of cash and fucking great booze all on an easy ride. Plus, you assholes get to come, too."

It's a lot to try and comprehend. Ryan doesn't want to do this. He doesn't want to come back to Roosterteeth. Of course, he knows that isn't a choice regardless of what they decide but he especially doesn't want them joining Roosterteeth. Geoff can dress it up in any way he'd like but Ryan can not wrap his head around the idea.

"Do you really want to do this, Geoff?" Jack asks quietly.

"I don't care," Geoff admits with a shrug. "If you guys aren't down for it, like I said, we can go back to Los Santos. Ryan will have to renew his contract, but he can get a job with us just like Lindsay. We can pretend Republica never existed."

"But you think we should?" Michael assures harshly.

"Hell yeah I think we should," Geoff agrees. "Did you see all the shit Ray did? Ray can kick his _own_ ass. Burnie wants us to learn that kind of stuff. Then we get to go and strategically fuck everything up, everywhere. No city to defend, no shitty gangs to try and control, no police to fuck with. Just the five of us and our crew going anywhere we want to go and doing anything we want to do."

Ryan can see the others buying into it gradually. It sounds so nice, it's supposed to, but it can't be that easy, surely. Nothing is ever that easy, even with Roosterteeth.

"We can think about it. Gus says he'll put us up in a room until we come to a decision," Geoff promises. At least they don't have to make a choice right now. Though Ryan feels like that perhaps is because they don't really have one. If Burnie put all this time into them, there's no way he'll just let them walk away.

"You should go talk to Gus, though," he murmurs as he overlooks Ryan again. The face he puts on is apologetic but not strictly sad or sympathetic. "Whatever we decide, it's not going to be you dead."

Ryan isn't sure about that.

\- x -

It's pretty difficult for Ryan to focus on reading his contract. It's nothing really new just a few changes in policy and terms from the years he was gone. He remembers not even reading his contract when he first started working here. At the time, there had been no question about it. Burnie had gotten him out of jail, off of death row, and on top of that, got him the help he needed. Ryan had already wasted away everything he had so signing a contract he hadn't read wasn't hard. He had nothing to lose.

Of course, he turned out to be very lucky and nothing in his contract was terrible. The worse part of it was the death clause, honestly, and that was only the worse because 'Republic of Roosterteeth has the right to terminate any employee without warning'. Ryan is fairly certain that's something that has only happened once in the whole of Roosterteeth and definitely not something he had witnessed.

A few changes catch his eye, though. Roosterteeth only keeps seventy five percent of an agents wealth after death now, instead of eighty. Commission price is no longer taken out of the agents' share. Agents can now opt out of human testing. All very mundane things. Ryan sighs.

"Do you need some help, James?" the system questions when it apparently realises he's having some difficulty. Ryan is really just trying to skim through all of it so he can get back to his boyfriends but it's not working. Another new change; he literally can't sign it until he reads it all. Supposedly that's for the best.

"No, thanks though," Ryan assures with a simple shrug. He just needs to focus is all. Which he immediately doesn't do. "I didn't catch your name, actually."

"I am R.W.B.Y.," she introduces gladly. Definitely not Phyllis.

"What happened to the old system?" Ryan inquires curiously.

"Phyllis? Unfortunately, she suffered a fatal error causing her to lose a large amount of personal data and was retired four years ago," Rwby explains with a touch of sadness. Phyllis had expressed several emotions but it's clear that they have come a long way with Rwby.

"Ryan is fine, by the way," he mentions offhandedly as he goes back to reading. Obviously he is going to be here awhile.

"Alrighty Ryan!" Rwby replies happily. Besides, he's different now, isn't he? Might as well act like it. Upon finishing up the long, boring task of going over his contract, it requires his signature and to renew his finger prints. All of which is fortunately done through his new tablet. He's not sure what happened to his old one but he guesses it doesn't really matter.

The system recognises Ryan as an agent again and the black bar turns a familiar grey before giving him access to everything he doesn't care about. Well, that's not entirely true. Idly, he checks Ray's file again. He had been Ray's partner for a while but even for him, it remains inaccessible. Ryan checks his own and while he can see everything, it's also technically locked. He doesn't have the rank to unlock it nor does he want to.

Ryan feels ill now. He knows there isn't a physical difference from before but just knowing he works for Republica again makes his stomach knot. Well, not again, per say. Thanks to Ray, he had never actually been deactivated, just on a very long leave. This is exactly what he was worried about in the first place, that he would come back and Ray would act like they never had anything together. Running away hadn't change that.

Finished with his paperless paperwork, Ryan is more than happy to return to his boyfriends in the lounge. Gus has given them access to the system for them to browse and, honestly, probably to try and sway their decision. Ryan feels like there's a lot of trouble they can get into even with limited access. He's right. Of course.

"What are doing?" Ryan asks before he even has time to completely comprehend what they're watching. He doesn't need to comprehend it to know this so isn't okay. Urgently, he reaches for the screen they're propped in front of to close the video out with both hands.

"Well," Geoff says idly, pushing the screen out of Ryan's reach and leaving it paused at an unfortunate spot. "We _were_ watching you bang Ray-"

"Actually, it's more like Ray banging you," Michael corrects. Jesus Christ why is this the first thing they cared about? Ryan runs a hand across his face like it'll help with his forming headache.

"It's not like we were looking for it," Gavin assures.

"We were actually just watching some of your jobs," Jack murmurs. "These things apparently don't care about privacy at all."

"No," Ryan promises sharply. "They don't. Please don't watch anymore of my videos, okay?" he insists with a weary look. If there was a camera around then there was no doubt Republica had eyes on it. Though the footage is mostly for personal reasons, for agents to see how they work and what they can improve on, it's also used to help assess scoring and as proof for job completion. However, as it is unfiltered footage, everything is free game.

After all, it's not like Ryan can feel _shame_. How ridiculous. Ha _ha_.

"So does Roosterteeth just record everything always?" Michael inquires as Ryan hurriedly closes out the video and pushes the screen back into the table top. It's unfortunate he can't restrict any of his videos without Ray's input. At this point, Ryan isn't sure he so much as wants to see Ray again for a multitude of reasons. Obviously he's going to have to and he knows it.

"Only on jobs," Ryan answers idly. "Come on. I need to go reclaim my apartment."

"Pft. We get to see where bachelor Ryan lived?" Gavin laughs. Bachelor isn't quite the word for it. Besides, Ryan doubts his old studio apartment is anything how he left it. It's been six years. When he heads for the elevator, the crew follows.

"I've seen where 'bachelor' Ryan lived," Geoff scoffs like he's not impressed. Also not quite right. Before Ryan had started living with the crew, he'd been incredibly self destructive and his living habits reflected that. The elevator calls easily and they have to gather in with a few other people. Ryan pretends not to know any of them. He goes as far as to completely ignore any and all attempts at speaking to him. The message gets across fast.

Jack gives him a sort of sympathetic look but Ryan ignores that, too. He doesn't want to be here. He doesn't want them to be here. Why don't they understand that? It's a pretty quiet ride on the subway to the other side of the complex. Well, mostly quiet. Gavin's stomach growls loudly and Geoff swats him in the belly to shut him up. Not that it works.

"Geoff," Gavin complains faintly. It catches the attention of some other agents. "Ray promised food like two hours ago. I'm bloody starving."

"If you haven't noticed, Gavin, Ray didn't exactly care about our wellbeing," Michael huffs at him.

"We'll grab something to eat in a little while," Ryan assures absently. Geoff is already getting his fair share of glares for all his blatant staring. There's no need to have Gavin make a commotion on top of that. These people are already highly defensive and will absolutely think the smallest things to be elaborate traps instead of blissful ignorance.

Ryan directs them off the cart at their stop and gets them to hold back and wait for the next empty elevator. There aren't many words exchanged between them and Ryan isn't sure he's glad for that. They're thinking about Burnie's offer and he hates it but he can't think of anything to say to distract them. For Ryan, it's an uncomfortable ride up.

Now he starts to wonder if maybe his apartment is exactly how he left it. Maybe Ray never stepped a foot in it once he was gone. Really, why would he? Maybe he hadn't even bothered to reclaim his things so casually and trustingly left in Ryan's possession. Then again, he probably didn't even want them back after Ryan annihilated whatever trust they had together.

"Wow, how many people work here?" Jack questions as they head down the hall. Ryan looks at a few of the numbers posted on the wall as they past. A lot of the rooms on this floor still seem to be vacant but then again, Roosterteeth tried not to put agents right next door to each other if they could help it.

"Not even a hundred easily," Ryan says. "But there's room for about a thousand people. I don't think they ever plan on having that many, but Roosterteeth is prepared for a lot of stuff that will never happen." Roosterteeth is too particular with what qualities they need in their agents to ever have that many at the same time. Hell, last time Ryan checked, Republica agents only had an average life expectancy of thirty five years. Which, of course, is fucking fantastic when more than half of them are already approaching that age. If Ryan lives three more years, it'd be a fucking miracle. Geoff living this long is a miracle.

Ryan stops outside his door. 507. He glances down the hall to where Ray used to live a few doors down in 505 but it seems unlikely that he still lives there. He's probably requested to move a long time ago and no one would refuse him that. Back to his first apartment, if Ryan could guess.

Pushing idle thoughts aside, Ryan taps the screen embedded in his door and it lights up under his touch. _Welcome home, Ryan_. It gives him a few options right away but he doesn't really pay them any mind right now, simply opting to open it. The auto lock disengages but when Ryan goes to open the handle, the door refuses. There's still manual locks, of course.

"What's wrong?" Gavin asks curiously and Ryan looks down at him.

"I don't have the keys," he murmurs simply. Now that he thinks about it, he has no idea where they would even be or where he saw them last. He doesn't think he even had them when he woke up in the hospital what seems like a century ago. They're undoubtedly lost forever. Great.

"Lying, cheating, manipulative ex at nine o'clock," Michael murmurs suddenly, turning away from the direction he has indicated. Ryan, however, does the opposite, facing that direction and finding Ray looking back at him. It's a short look though and then Ray is unlocking his own door. He still lives in 505 after all.

"Well, how do you get a new set of keys?" Jack questions. It seems easy enough to pretend Ray doesn't exist even as he stands not even thirty feet away. That's not really true, though, and Ryan knows he's not the only one struggling not to say something; anything. Geoff stares down the hall without waver, watching Ray much too close. Ryan hopes he's not going to do anything.

"I don't," Ryan sighs faintly. "There's only one key per lock. I'll just- I have to pick it." It's going to take forever to do because these locks weren't made to be picked. He's not even sure he wants into his old room that bad. Absently, he glances down the hall again and Ray is still standing there. He's fiddling with his keys and when he stops, he notices Ryan looking at him.

Ryan doesn't have the sense to look away. An apology would be nice, wouldn't it? Anything would be nice at this point. An explanation, an argument, a fight. Ray holds up a hand and Ryan almost thinks he's going to get what he wants. It's then that Ryan realises he doesn't want any of those things at all. Instead, Ray tosses a set of keys at him.

Michael and Jack both flinch automatically but it's not an aggressive gesture. Ryan catches them without thinking and examines the ring with distant familiarity. These are his keys. Ray had kept them all this time? That's- Ryan isn't sure what that is. He tries to ramble off a thanks but it sticks in his throat like a morning star when he discovers Ray is already done with their interaction.

Then Geoff does something. Ryan nearly stops him and he's not really sure why he doesn't but Geoff takes quick, long strides right for Ray. This certainly gets his attention and likely to defend himself, Ray reaches for his baton. If Geoff had wanted to hurt him, though, they all know he'd have a better chance with his gun. Which, very obviously, confuses Ray.

Instead, Geoff completely by passes Ray's personal bubble, grabs his face, and kisses him hard on the mouth. Ryan almost fumbles his keys.

"Geoff!" Jack yelps and Gavin echoes with a small, illegible noise. They're not the only ones caught off guard. When Geoff lets him go, Ray is understandably puzzled. He stares at Geoff for a moment and then quickly scrubs his tongue on the back of his hand. Realising Geoff hasn't tried to poison him only manages to confuse Ray further.

Whatever Geoff says to him, Ryan doesn't hear and he doesn't think the others do, either. Ray just sort of blinks though and quickly hurries into his room with a loud snap of the door. So that happened!

"What the fuck was that?" Michael barks when Geoff returns to their side.

"That was me kissing Ray," Geoff answers plainly.

"Okay," Jack say between teeth. " _Why_?"

"What do you mean why?" Geoff scoffs back.

"He's bloody been lying to us this whole damn time!" Gavin cries. "You can't just- I mean you can't- _Geoff_." He falls off into inconsistent rambling.

"If you guys believe that, you're seriously fucking dumb," Geoff assures. What the hell had Burnie said to him in such a short amount of time? Ryan decides quickly to return his attention to the door and test his keys instead of acknowledging whatever the hell Geoff has done. They really are his keys and the door opens without a fight. Carefully, he peers inside to make sure nothing is rigged before wandering in.

The lights come on automatically though the room is already slightly illuminated by the screened window. The air filter has prevented dust from settling but even then it's obvious his room hasn't been touched in, well, years. Ryan doesn't recall exactly how he left his apartment but if Ray had ever been in here while he was gone, it couldn't have been for long. He gazes over his computer, ancient now, and his games tucked neatly into a corner just as they ever were. There are stains at the edge of his dresser and along many of its handles that Ryan is certain are bloodstains.

His bedding, aged and filthy from time, sports a similar look, embedded stains soaked into the very centre. Upon closer inspection, Ryan notes the gasoline stains as well. Again, if Ray had been in here, and Ryan can't fathom anyone else getting in, it was immediately after their fallout and then never again. Everything about this day just keeps getting better.

"Oh man, bachelor Ryan was boring," Gavin scoffs. He's pretending everything is fine like he always does but he seems to be the only one. Jack glares very prepensely at Geoff and Geoff very pointedly ignores it. Michael appears to be more interested in scowling at the wall than anything else. This is going about as well as Ryan figured it would go.

"Los Santos really brought out the worst in you, didn't it, buddy?" Geoff murmurs as he flips through an old book resting on a shelf. Ryan does everything in his power to stop himself from shutting down right then.

"Rwby," he says offhandedly as he browses through a drawer of his bed side table. "Do you know who the last person in here was?"

"I do," Rwby assures. "Ray Narvaez Jr., four months ago."

"And before that?" Ryan questions.

"Ray Narvaez Jr., one year, four months ago," Rwby informs. Ryan sits on the edge of his bed, carefully handling the little square glasses he's found in his drawer.

"Continue, please," Ryan murmurs.

"Ray Narvaez Jr., two years, four months ago. Ray Narvaez Jr., three years, four months ago. Ray Narvaez Jr.," she lists on and everyone seems to stop and listen. Four years, five years, six years. "Ray Narvaez Jr., six years, five months ago. Ryan Haywood and Ray Narvaez Jr., six years, six months ago. Ryan Haywood and Ray Narvaez Jr.-"

"Stop," Ryan instructs. "That's enough. Thank you."

"So what?" Michael growls. "Are we supposed to feel bad for him?" Ryan drops his head. "Is this supposed to excuse everything he did? He's still a lying piece of shit."

"What exactly did he do, Michael?" Geoff asks rather harshly. "Got rid of some assholes from our past? Made us be honest with each other? Tried to be our friend? You're acting like you won't fucking lie through your teeth if it suits you."

"And when did you start defending Ray?" Michael barks. "You've hated him from day one! And now suddenly you're getting all kissy face? What the fuck, Geoff!"

"I started defending Ray when I realised he isn't our enemy, Michael. You think we would have gotten this far if he wanted us fucking dead? If Republica wanted us dead? He was doing us a favour," Geoff snaps back.

"Guys," Jack interrupts lowly, trying to ease some of the tension. "Just settle down. It's been a long day for all of us."

"You just think he was trying to unite you with your loser army buddies. Which he wasn't! Do you really think he knew you and those two idiots were friends or that it would even matter? All he was in this for was the money. Just like Ryan fucking said, he wanted something and he got it. He didn't care at whose expense," Michael's voice grows gradually louder but in the soundproof room, it doesn't matter. He can yell to his hearts content and no one will hear.

"Ray never had a fucking choice, Michael! You don't fucking know Burnie and Gus like I do. I would bet anything that he never wanted to fucking do this! That they guilt tripped him and blackmailed him and held Ryan's life over his head until he agreed because that's exactly what I would do. Ray loved Ryan so much and they used it as much against Ray as Ray did against Ryan," Geoff bites and it cuts so deeply Ryan can feel it to his bone. Geoff isn't even yelling at him. It's unusual for Michael to fight like this with Geoff but here they are. This is what they've been brought to.

"If Ray loved him so much, why didn't he ever show up? In all those six years you're telling me not once could he show his fucking face and ask Ryan to come back? He fucking knew where Ryan was! He knew how bad Ryan had been without him! But he didn't! He stayed away! I'm not about to let him hurt Ryan again, Geoff!" Michael snaps. Ryan knows it's ridiculous to let them fight like this but there's nothing he can do. He feels like his throat has been torn out through his chest and his heart is lying somewhere in his stomach and, god, his head.

"Knock it off!" Jack roars and it hushes both Michael and Geoff up easily. "You're stressing Ryan out!" Ryan looks up, momentarily catching eyes with both of them, but he has nothing to say so he simply averts his eyes down again.

"Yeah boys," Gavin murmurs in a tone that he thinks is soothing. "Ryan already feels enough like shit as it is. He knows he fucked up with Ray."

"Shut up," Jack says bluntly.

"Let's just grab some food," Ryan murmurs faintly and he hooks the glasses in the collar of his shirt. They all look at him with varying shades of what he can only call pity. He manages a forced smile. "The food court here is pretty awesome, I'll admit."

\- x -

"I've decided," Jack says quietly into the dark room. It's not like any of them can sleep anyways. It's always sort of weird being away from home but this is especially so. The bed is large enough to fit all of them plus some but it's still not their bed. Ryan finds it hard to get comfortable. Michael is pressed into his back and Gavin lies mostly face down in front of him but Ryan just can't settle his unease.

"And?" Geoff replies faintly. They've had all day to think and roam around Roosterteeth but Ryan hadn't expected any of them, let alone Jack, to come to a decision so quick.

"I think I want to stay," Jack murmurs. "This place is pretty incredible and in all the time I had been with the FBI, I've never seen such skilled agents. If they want _us_ here, then we have to have some kind of potential we don't see in ourselves."

"If you want to be a cold, unfeeling machine, then sure," Ryan agrees shortly. "Republica is the place."

"See, but that's not true," Jack argues. "Some of these guys are weird, yeah, but a lot of them are really happy to be here and are insanely friendly. They're not unfeeling, they're just sort of, I dunno-"

"Disassociated," Ryan finishes plainly. He already knows. Jack is mistaking friendliness for politeness.

"Whatever," Jack answers. "I think Geoff's right. Los Santos was the best of a worse situation. This could really open doors for us."

"Or kill us," Ryan scoffs.

"I wanna stay, too," Gavin adds in. "It's worth a try, ain't it? Free food, loads of cash, and we get lots of super spy training."

"There is no 'try', Gavin," Ryan points out harshly. "If you do this and it doesn't work out, you're screwed."

"Yeah, well," Gavin says with a bit of a shrug as he rolls onto his back carefully. "I'd never have to worry about MI6 again or being deported and, I mean, not that I'm thinking about it or anything, but if we, you know, like broke up, I'd have something to fall back on. Wouldn't have to worry about trying to join another bloody gang or getting left in the streets."

"Even if we did break up, which we're not, it's not like we'd kick you out of Fake AH," Geoff assures him with a hint of irritation. "You think we'd just leave you in the gutter, asshole?"

"Well whatever," Gavin mumbles as Geoff drags him into his chest to squeeze him. He shifts a bit before getting comfortable in Geoff's arms. "Nothing wrong with having a b plan, right?"

"Because when Ryan broke up with Ray, that went swimmingly," Michael scowls.

"They didn't break up, though," Gavin insists.

"Ryan lost his goddamn mind," Geoff agrees.

"Because of Roosterteeth," Ryan points out sharply. "That's what it does to people."

"No, I'm pretty sure that was all you," Geoff assures.

"Republica might have inflamed it a bit," Jack adds on with slight reluctance. "But you've always been paranoid, Ryan."

"What about you, boi?" Gavin questions. Ryan feels Michael scoff into his back.

"What about me?" he answers bluntly.

"Did you make up your damn mind yet?" Gavin clarifies with a huff of his own.

"No," Michael snips back. "I haven't. Not that it matters when you guys clearly outnumber us."

"See, but I'm not hearing you refuse," Geoff says.

"That's because I haven't fucking decided," Michael repeats sourly. "I don't know. This place is just wrong, you know?"

"I can't believe you guys are legitimately considering such a preposterous offer," Ryan injects without attempting to hide any of his malice.

"Alright," Geoff snaps shortly. "You keep saying that but you're not giving us a good reason to why we _shouldn't_. If there's something we need to know then you need to spit it the fuck out."

"Yeah, remember the part about dying?" Ryan reminds gladly.

"Because that's stopped us from doing stuff before," Jack scoffs sarcastically.

"We're gonna need a better reason than that, Ryan. Dying isn't exactly new to us," Geoff grumbles.

"This place, the way it functions, it fucks with your head Geoff," Ryan tries to explain desperately.

"The thing about that is, it doesn't, buddy," Geoff promises a bit softer. "That's just you and we're here now to stop you from being a fucking idiot. Or to be an idiot with you. Depends on the situation."

"You were messed right in the head way before Republica," Gavin agrees with a slight nod. "Straight bonkers. Still are."

"If those are your only two concerns, those are things we can deal with, Ryan," Geoff assures him. That seems like a very big, very Geoff thing to promise. "I mean, I'm really asking; give us a good reason and we won't stay. Like, did something happen to you here or what? Did Burnie kill your cow or something?" Ryan doesn't say anything. After all, Michael had hit it on the head; Republica is just _wrong_. Though, Ryan thinks, Michael's reluctance is more about Ryan's reaction than anything else.

"Is it Ray?" Jack asks quietly. Ryan swallows.

"That's it?" Geoff snorts rather unsympathetically. " _Ray_ happened to you here?"

"Geoff," Ryan murmurs in an attempt to stop Geoff from wherever he's going with this.

"Dude, if that's why you don't want to stay here, fine. All you have to do is say so," Geoff says plainly. "I understand."

"Ray is the reason I don't want to be here," Ryan replies without hesitation.

"That's fucking stupid," Geoff answers immediately. "So that's that. We're staying."

"Geoff," Ryan bites a little rougher.

"Ryan, no. Look, I see this happening one of two ways. You either patch things up with Ray or you don't. That's it. You're not going to kill each other, it's not the end of the world, you're going to fucking explode if he gives you the cold shoulder, okay? Either the two of you will work it out or one of you will decide not to have anything else to do with the other in which case, it's seriously time to move the fuck on," Geoff tells him bluntly.

"It's been six bloody years," Gavin says with clear agreement.

"It's not going to kill you to see your ex from time to time," Jack murmurs.

"Even if he lives like right fucking next door," Michael grumbles but it's not really to agree with Jack.

"And either way, you have us," Geoff reminds him. "We can help you. Whether we're helping you get back together or helping you get over him, doesn't really matter to me."

"Or me," Jack nods.

"I actually kinda like 'im," Gavin promises fondly.

"He's cute, right?" Geoff insists suggestively and Gavin nods.

"Well Ryan?" Michael questions quietly. Ryan doesn't know what to say, honestly. He knows Geoff is right, though. This has been going on way too long and he needs to do something. He's not really sure fixing, or finishing, things with Ray is going to make being here any better, but Geoff is obviously determined. It's ridiculous and it's dangerous and it's stupid and, Jesus, it's right up their alley, isn't it?

"What if this doesn't turn out like you think it will?" Ryan asks with crumbling resolve.

"Oh, I'm not expecting this to go anything how I think it will," Geoff promises and cocks a grin. "But if you mean what am I going to do if we want to leave? Imma tell Burnie to send us to the nicest island I can think of to retire on while we pretend to work. That's how all the old agents do it, right?"

"Stupid idiot," Michael grumbles under his breathe. Ryan sighs faintly. He's pretty sure Burnie would never let them go that easy but maybe they wouldn't want to. Maybe Geoff's right and all along they've belonged here. Unlikely, really, but still a possibility. Ryan thought they had been happy in Los Santos but it's entirely possible he only thought that because he thought he had successfully hidden from his problems there.

Los Santos _is_ pretty shit.

Considering all the jobs he had done and all the good times he'd had with Roosterteeth and then imagining doing all of that with his crew; it's sort of nice. It would definitely be less stressful and, fairly, more profitable than anything Los Santos has to offer. Ryan is still unsure, still holds an awaiting 'told you so' at the back of his tongue, but he can't refuse. He can not fathom his reluctance into logical reason and therefore, quickly realises how irrational it is.

In all honesty, Ryan thinks it's less 'Ray' and more the fear of losing them in the same way he had lost Ray. He's not sure he can lose everything again.

"Well?" Geoff repeats.

"If you guys are sure," Ryan murmurs reluctantly. "But you have to be one hundred percent positive you want to do this and know things will be different. Way different than Los Santos."

"No shit," Michael huffs. "Have you seen this place?"

"So you're agreeing?" Geoff confirms. Ryan gives a slight but calm nod. On the other hand, if their worse outcome is death, that's pretty fucking good for them. They've definitely had worse things in their possible outcome list before.

"Alright!" Gavin yips.

"We're all in agreement, then? Michael?" Geoff assures carefully.

"Whatever. As long as I get to blow shit up," he grumbles. Ryan knows he doesn't mean it like that. He's such a sap.

"Okay," Geoff grins. "Republicans it is."

"Republicas," Jack corrects automatically.

"Jack," Geoff sighs. "I fuckin' hate you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's the end of 7na. thank you all so much for sticking around this long and hopefully you'll stick around a little longer for the sequel. or the prequel. i'm not one hundred sure which will be up first but there will definitely be the one shots up before that. if you'd still like to contribute to that, check out [this post](http://themadkingsendshismilk.tumblr.com/post/100752186939/godcomplexdisorder-so-guys-ive-prt-much)! thank you all for the support and nice comments. i couldn't have done it without you guys!

**Author's Note:**

> requests and questions [or whatever] can be directed [here](http://themadkingsendshismilk.tumblr.com/). seven nation army [glitch mob remix] by the White Stripes.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [the Boy with the Butterfly Knife](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4356815) by [butterflyknifle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflyknifle/pseuds/butterflyknifle)




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